


The Best Laid Plans

by love4writing



Category: CHiPs (TV), Emergency!
Genre: Crossover, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-02-16 17:45:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 32,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13058991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love4writing/pseuds/love4writing
Summary: Jon Baker and John Gage are both having a bad week but they're about to discover that sometimes a bad week turns into the best thing ever. I am not good at writing summaries since I tend to give away plots when I write to much! Please give it a try and feel free to comment - I've never tried a crossover before. Each Chapter (except for the first) will be written in one person's point of view.





	1. Be Careful What You Wish For

**Author's Note:**

> I made all kinds of plans for the future and God just laughed and laughed.

Jon Baker was having a very bad week and right now, Ponch was not helping. He knew that his friend just wanted to help and probably figured that Jon wanted to talk about it. However, he emphatically did not want to discuss this. For the first time in a long time, Jon had felt like this girl was really special. Then on Saturday she told him it was over. It was Thursday now and Jon still felt miserable. He had been avoiding Ponch’s questions and was rapidly running out of ways to divert the topic to something- anything - else. _Right now, I’d take a disaster to get out of this._ The universe was about to oblige him.  
Jon glanced down as Grossie’s voice came across the radio.  
“LA - 7 - Mary - 5. We’re gonna need an 11-40 and 11-42. And I could use some help.”  
Jon glanced at Ponch, who nodded. Jon picked up the radio.  
“7-Mary-3 and 4, we can respond.”  
“405 south of Carson,” came Grossie’s reply.  
The two officers hit their lights and made to get on the freeway at the next exit.

\-------

 John Gage was not having a good week either. His overtime shift had run him through exhaustion and now he’d managed to make both Roy and Marco mad at him. Chet was enjoying poking fun at John for the last miserable date he’d had and he was about at his wits end. He mopped the bay, trying to think of something that might redeem him in the eyes of his friends but was failing. Roy had vanished to the dorms and Marco had stormed off to the kitchen so even an apology wasn’t an option because Cap would have his head if he didn’t get the mess cleaned up. _If I only had something to distract everyone maybe time would fix some of this._ It was probably a coincidence but right then, the klaxons sounded.  
“Station 51, Station 16, automobile accident, 405 freeway south of Carson, repeat 405 freeway south of Carson. Time out 11:25.”  
Captain Stanley picked up the radio.  
“Station 51, KMG365.”  
Roy hit the lights and siren on the squad just as Mike got to the engine and the two headed out knowing that it could be bad.

\--------

Jon pulled over and still couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Somehow, a truck had tipped over, which was nothing new. What was new was that the truck was sitting on top of a car. Several other cars were nearby and the situation looked volatile. Jon headed to Grossie to see what he needed.  
“Check that car,” Grossie said as he tried to keep the woman he was dealing with in her car and calm.  
Jon headed over to check on the man who still had a pulse but it wasn’t strong. Ponch was trying to help the truck driver get down. The truck driver looked unharmed, which was a good thing. Jon went to the third car in the mess, partially under the truck and hoped that he wasn’t about to find a corpse. There were two women in the car and they both looked alive but he couldn’t get close enough to tell. Thankfully, he heard the sirens of the fire trucks getting close.

\--------

Roy’s mouth dropped open as he surveyed the scene in front of him. He pulled the squad over and the two headed over to the officer trying to reach a car partially under a truck. Roy recognized the younger man when they got closer.  
“Hey Jon, are they alive?”  
“I think so,” he said but Roy could tell by his look that there was some doubt as to how much longer that might be true.  
Roy glanced up to see the engine pulling up and headed over to tell his captain what the situation was.  
The other paramedic squad arrived at the same time and Roy was relieved to see Brice and Bellingham. At least he knew that everyone would be capable of handling this mess. He saw Brice head over to the cars further away, to check the people there. Marco and Chet got to work trying to open a space for Roy to work in while the other engine company started to hose down the road, hopefully preventing a fire from starting. Roy and Jon focused on the windshield so that Roy could check on the victims and hopefully get some vitals on them. Behind him, he heard Johnny on the radio to Rampart. Finally, the windshield was as out of the way as it could be and using his turnout coat for protection, Roy climbed over the hood of the car. He managed to get halfway in checking the pulse on both women while trying to figure out how to get them out.

\---------

Arthur Grossman and Craig Bruce were doing their best to help the woman in the car they were at but they weren’t having much luck. Brice managed to get oxygen on her but she kept panicking and pulling it off. Something was definitely wrong with her but Brice was at a loss as to what. She didn’t seem to have any obvious injuries. Bellingham was talking to Rampart.  
“D5W TKO,” he told Brice, who nodded.  
“I’m going to put an IV in ma’am,” he said, doubtful that she was hearing him. Grossman was helping him, holding her arm. As Brice put the IV in, the woman passed out. He quickly rechecked her vitals and relayed the information to his partner, wondering what had just happened.

\---------

Roy finally had a way to get to the women in the car and he didn’t like what he was finding. Marco and Chet were working on the door with the jaws but Roy was beginning to wonder if there was any point. He glanced over his shoulder at Jon who looked concerned. Ponch was next to him and both men looked like they wanted to help. It was tight but Roy managed to get halfway into the car to get a bp on both women.  
“Johnny, get Rampart on the line. We’re gonna need IV’s.”  
With a very loud crunch, Chet popped the door on the car and Roy let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He wiggled his way back off the hood of the car and went around to the door to get the girl on the passenger side out.  
“Mike, get me a backboard and tell Bellignham I need help, if he can give me a hand.”

\----------

The sirens of the ambulance were welcome sounds but not a single patient was ready to move yet. Brice had gotten his patient onto the ground with Grossie’s help and had her IV going.  
“Rampart says transport,” Bob told him. Brice nodded.  
“I’m going to help DeSoto,” Bob continued. Both men glanced over at the mess that Roy was in the middle of.  
“Ok, I’ll meet you at Rampart,” said Brice as he rechecked a blood pressure and tried to get his patient ready to go.

Bellingham jogged over to the mess to help while Grossie went to start directing traffic. He grabbed Ponch on the way, noticing that Jon was crouched next to the car and looked like he was in the middle of something.

\-----------

Jon was talking with the woman in the driver’s seat, trying to keep her calm, hoping that he wasn’t lying to her as he told her “Everything will be ok.”  
Roy and Chet had gotten the other woman out and Bellingham had climbed into the car to see how the woman still inside was doing. He put a gauze pad over the gash on her head and was checking her blood pressure. He relayed the vital signs to Gage and glanced at the CHP officer outside the car who was talking calmly with the woman who had regained consciousness not long before.  
“My name’s Jon. It’s nice to meet you Megan.”  
Bob smiled. Jon was doing a good job keeping her calm, if nothing else. He heard Roy outside.  
“We’re going to Rampart. Johnny’s going to stay here and relay to Rampart for you.”  
“Ok,” Bob replied. “Send someone to get a backboard off our squad.”  
Fifteen minutes later, they were managing to get the injured woman out of the car, just as the third ambulance showed up. Gage sent the message to Rampart that they were ready to transport. Bob couldn’t remember the last time they had a mess this big. He sighed as he climbed into the ambulance and crossed his fingers.

\---------

Jon stood up and rubbed his face vigorously, wondering if this wasn’t at least partly his fault.  
“Last time I ask for a disaster,” he mumbled to himself as he looked around for Ponch and Grossie. He saw Ponch taking information from a few people and he finally noticed Grossie still directing traffic. It had been about an hour since that initial call and Jon was exhausted. He set out to take statements from the people still in the area so they could get some lunch.

\---------

At Rampart, Brice was standing against the nurse’s station, staring at nothing. He was hoping that Brackett could tell him what happened but within minutes of him getting his patient here, Brackett took off with her, probably to surgery. Brice was playing over a single moment in his mind while he waited. While they were on the way, the woman had opened her eyes and looked at him. He remembered smiling at seeing her eyes open.  
“Hi, I”m Craig. I'm a paramedic with LA County. We’re on our way to the hospital. How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?”  
“C-Craig? My name’s Andrea… why’s it cold?”  
And then she had gone out again. Brice frowned. He had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach.  
“Brice?” He jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
“Oh! Hi Miss McCall.”  
“Something bothering you?”  
“No. No, I’m just waiting for Bellingham.”  
As if on cue, his partner arrived, followed quickly by John Gage. Gage looked around and noticed Brice standing there.  
“Where’s Roy?” John asked  
“I think they’re still in 3,” replied Dixie, glancing up. “That must have been some mess on the freeway.”  
Craig and John looked at each other but said nothing.  
Roy wandered out of the treatment room, looking concerned.  
“Is she going to make it?” Brice asked.  
“Dunno. I hope so,” Roy replied quietly.  
Brice nodded as Bellingham walked out of the room he had just gone into. He shook his head.  
“Not good, huh?” Gage said.  
For a moment none of the men spoke. Then silently each pair walked back outside to head back to their stations.

\----------

Jon wandered back over to his bike and climbed on but didn’t start it. Instead he sat there for a moment, staring.  
“Come on partner, let’s go get lunch,” said Ponch as he walked over to his bike.  
Jon glanced up and nodded but he wasn’t very hungry.  
“You ok?” Ponch asked Jon as he strapped on his helmet.  
“Yeah,” Jon replied. “Let’s go.”  
A strange sense of guilt was settling into his bones.


	2. A Chance Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written from Artie's POV

Arthur Grossman was replaying the morning in his mind. He was waiting for Craig and Harlan to get there, having planned this particular evening months ago. The morning had completely thrown him off though and he had felt scattered for the rest of the day. The knock on the door brought Artie out of his thoughts.  
“Hey Craig,” Artie said as he opened up the door.  
“How are you doing?” asked Craig with genuine concern.  
“Eh. Alright, I guess. You?”  
Craig walked in, handing Artie a bag of chips and shook his head.  
“I am not sure right now.” Craig spoke slowly and Artie could see something in the other man’s face that was definite concern.  
“Did your victim make it?”  
“I think so. I haven’t had a chance to talk with the doctor at the hospital to find out.”  
Artie gave Craig a pat on his shoulder and Craig gave him a half smile. The knock on the door meant that the evening was about to begin. Artie set up the game board and the three men sat down. This was a ritual for the three friends, sitting down over a board and talking about things. Tonight, it was Scrabble, which was one of Craig’s favorites and normally meant a lot of banter between the three as Artie and Harlan tried to argue that Craig was making up words. Tonight was much more quiet.  
“So, what happened this morning?” asked Harlan quietly. He glanced back and forth between Craig and Artie and knew that it had to have been rough.  
“That accident was bad,” said Artie staring down at the board, as if he was thinking.  
Craig said nothing. He was staring at the letter in front of him but both men could tell he wasn’t seeing them.  
“Craig?” Artie spoke carefully, knowing that something was wrong. “What’s bothering you?”  
For a moment, Artie thought he saw tears in Craig’s eyes but then just as quickly there was nothing. Maybe he imagined it.  
Craig blew out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding before looking up. “Who’s turn is it?”  
The game went on for another hour and slowly some banter began to come back into the game. Harlan won, which resulted in some teasing. It was rare for Harlan to win at Scrabble and in fact, it was rare for anyone but Craig to win at Scrabble. After the game ended and the chips were gone, Harlan left for home. Craig and Artie sat at the table in silence. The silence was comfortable for the two friends but Artie was sure that there was something Craig wanted to say, so he waited.  
Finally, “Artie, the strangest thing happened today on the way to Rampart.”  
“Yeah?” He tried to keep his voice even and calm.  
“The woman that we rescued woke up on the way in. She looked right at me and told me she was cold. Patients say that all the time and it’s not usually a good sign.”  
Artie waited, feeling like there was more. Craig finally looked up at him and the look on his face told Artie that Craig was afraid.  
“This sounds ridiculous but when she looked at me, I just felt like she was important somehow. Now I’m afraid that she’s going to die and I still don’t know why it matters.”  
Artie put his hand on Craig’s arm, trying to reassure him and wondering why this girl could possibly be important. Even after Craig left, Artie had an uneasy feeling. Maybe it was coming from his friend but either way, it was strange and made him think that he needed to check on the girl tomorrow.  
The next morning, Artie headed into briefing and tried to act like he wasn’t on another planet. Probably the entire room noticed that he was quiet, which was unusual for him but he was to busy thinking about what Craig had told him last night and what he had decided to do about it.  
Getraer ended briefing and Artie sat and doodled aimlessly on his notepad for a moment. He felt someone sit down beside him and glanced over to see Jon sitting there.  
“Hey,” said Artie hoping that his voice was cheery.  
“Hey yourself. Are you alright?” asked Jon, concern evident in his voice.  
“Yeah, I’m ok. I just didn’t sleep well.”  
“Who did?” muttered Jon quietly.  
Artie looked at him curiously and Jon just shook his head. Artie could tell that something was bothering Jon but he had no idea what it could be and he had Craig on his mind right now so he didn’t want to waste time.  
“I need to get going,” said Artie with a nod at the door. “If you need to talk Jon, I’ll listen.”  
Jon scoffed. “I’m fine.”  
Artie shook his head and gave his friend a smile. He knew that most of the station felt that he couldn’t be trusted with secrets but Artie could keep things to himself. He did it all the time, especially when those things mattered to his friends. Not the silly secrets like a surprise party but the real secrets, the ones that mattered. He didn’t know if Jon would trust him but he also didn’t care right now. He could talk to Jon later. Right now, he needed to find out who Craig’s mystery girl was.  
An hour later, Artie had made his way over to Rampart and headed into the emergency entrance. He didn’t see any squads outside, which was good. He didn’t want Craig to know that he’d been here. He walked over to the nurse’s station, seeing the head nurse who he recognized but he wasn’t sure of her name.  
“Um, hi,” he said. “I was hoping that you could help me with something.”  
“Sure,” replied the woman smiling. “What do you need?”  
Artie glanced at her name tag and noticed it read D. McCall and in the back of his mind, he recalled Craig talking about a woman named Dixie.  
“Uh, are you Dixie?” Artie blurted out.  
“Yes,” she replied looking at him with confusion.  
“Sorry,” Artie backed up and started over. “My name is Arthur Grossman and I worked on that traffic accident yesterday on the 405. I was hoping that I could find out about one of the victims. Find out of she was ok.”  
“Oh!” said the woman more calmly, “Sure. Who are you looking for?”  
“Well, I don’t know her name but a friend of mine, Craig Brice, brought her in.”  
Dixie paused for a moment, thinking. “Yes, Andrea Williams. She’s up in 322. You can go see her, if you’d like.”  
“Thank you,” said Artie with a smile. He turned for the elevator and headed up to see the woman. He found her room after a moment and knocked on her door before peeking his head in.  
“Come in?” came a quiet reply and Artie opened the door the rest of the way and walked inside.  
The woman laying in the bed looked like she had been through a lot. She was pale and her brown hair was matted. She had dark circles under her eyes and it looked like two separate IV lines were going. However, when she saw Artie, she smiled.  
“I remember you,” she said slowly. “You helped me yesterday.”  
Artie grinned. “I didn’t do much but yes, I was there. How do you feel?”  
“Alright, I guess. I hurt a lot but I’m still here.”  
“That’s good,” Artie said cheerfully. “I’m glad you’re still here. We were worried about you.”  
“We?” She looked around for another person.  
“Well, me and my friend. The one in the ambulance with you.”  
Her face changed when Artie said that, as if he had a secret that she wanted. “He’s your friend?”  
“Craig? Yes, he is.”  
“I want to meet him,” she said. “He saved my life.”  
“Well, I’m sure he’ll come by to see you. Like I said, we were worried about you. I’ll let you rest though. I just wanted to come see you and make sure you were ok.”  
“Thank you,” she said sincerely.  
Artie smiled at her.  
“No problem.” He turned and headed out her door and back downstairs. She was sweet and probably very pretty under normal circumstances. Her face had lit up when he mentioned Craig. Artie thought that he might understand what had made Craig feel so strange. The two seemed like a perfect fit for each other, although he had no way of knowing anything about this woman. He just had a really good feeling about them.


	3. Second Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Gage's POV, 3rd day after the accident

Johnny grabbed the bio phone before running after Roy. The woman who met them outside had been front and only managed to shout something about the man’s heart before breaking down. Roy had convinced her to take him to the man and Johnny chased after them. He caught up to his partner in the living room, attaching leads to the chest of a man who was obviously struggling. He was sweating and fairly pale and just generally didn’t look well.   
“PVC’s Johnny,” said Roy looking at the monitor as he took a pulse.  
“I’ll get Rampart,” he replied quickly, setting up the orange box.  
“Is he going to be ok?” asked the frantic woman.  
“We’re doing everything we can ma’am. Rampart, this is squad 51. How do you copy?”   
He glanced up at Roy who was checking a blood pressure.  
“Roy, vitals?” he asked as he heard Dr. Early answer him at Rampart.  
“Pulse is 110, BP is 130/100 and respirations are 25 and shallow.”  
Johnny relayed the information to Dr. Early and waited.  
“Let me get a strip, 51,” said the doctor quickly.  
“This is lead 2 Rampart,” said Johnny sending the information from the machine across the lines.  
Roy was frowning at the monitor so it wasn’t good.  
“51, start an IV with D5W and give one amp sodium bicarb,” came the doctor’s order. Johnny confirmed it and noted Roy moving quickly.  
Fortunately, the ambulance was there and since the patient was stable, they hurried to get him in the back so they could go. Roy hopped in the back of the ambulance with their patient and Johnny headed for the squad. Hopefully they would get to the hospital without having to stop and care for the patient. He looked like he could go bad at any moment. The ambulance was parked and the crew was in the doors before Johnny could get the squad parked. It would probably be a few minutes anyway, so he grabbed the handy talkie and headed inside. He made a mental list of what Roy had used on the patient to get replaced.  
Dixie was at the nurse’s desk when Johnny got there and she smiled at him.  
“How’s my favorite paramedic?” she asked with a grin.  
“Eh, alright, I guess.”  
“That doesn’t sound like you Johnny. What’s the problem?”  
“Well, just girl stuff, I guess. I’m starting to think I’m doomed to bachelorhood forever, Dix.”  
“Aw, I doubt that. A handsome guy like you? You just need to find the right girl.” Dixie had a way of cheering him up but this mood had been sticking with him for a few days.  
Johnny grinned at her and filled out the paperwork for the supplies they needed. He had just finished up when Roy came out of the treatment room.  
“How is he?” asked Johnny. Roy’s face suggested that it wasn’t good.  
“Brackett isn’t sure. He just crashed in the treatment room and they got a rhythm back but the guy is in rough shape.”  
Johnny sighed and shook his head.  
“Tell me about it,” muttered Roy, who looked defeated.  
Dixie gave Roy a reassuring pat on his arm as the two paramedics headed out to the squad.  
“Hey Roy, about last shift,” Johnny started.  
“Don’t worry about it Junior,” said Roy with a sigh. “I know that something’s bugging you. Just next time the Phantom picks a bad time to get under your skin, don’t take it out on the two guys trying to help, ok?”  
“Sure,” he answered, thinking that he ought to apologize to Marco too. Roy would be a lot more forgiving and while Marco wouldn’t hold a grudge, he could certainly hold onto bad feelings for a little longer.  
“So what’s bugging you besides the Phantom’s last prank?” Roy knew Johnny well enough to know that if something was bothering him, he was a lot more sensitive to Chet’s pranks and this was certainly one of those moments.  
“I just can’t catch a break, Roy. Chet just had bad timing, is all.”  
“Does this have to do with Karen?”  
“Eh, she’s not my problem anymore,” mumbled Johnny.  
Roy glanced over at him sympathetically. He knew that Johnny had been feeling down and he was starting to understand the source of the problem.  
In that past month, Johnny Gage had realized that he wasn’t as interested in being single as he once had been. It never used to bother him when women dumped him and it happened a lot. He would brush it off and move on to the next woman that caught his eye. Ever since his last birthday, however, it had become apparent to him that the previous games were less interesting. Maybe it had been Marco’s announcement that he was getting married or Mike’s announcement that he was having his first baby but whatever it was, Johnny was acutely aware of the fact that everyone else was moving on with life.  
“Maybe you just need a break?” suggested Roy.  
Johnny shrugged. In truth, a woman had caught his eye recently. The huge traffic accident that had occurred last shift had brought a lot of responders and Johnny had noticed one woman. His immediate reaction had been to go ask her out but instead he had walked away. Now he felt like he missed out on something and had no idea how to go back in time and try to get it again. He didn’t even know her name. Worse than that, he was stuck reliving the day thinking about what he should have done but didn’t.  
Roy backed the squad in and Johnny hopped out as soon as it was parked. He had no desire to continue the conversation with Roy. Instead, he went to find Marco. Marco told Johnny not to worry about it and that he was forgiven and Johnny went about his day. Unfortunately, the forgiveness of his two friends did nothing to help his personal state of mind.  
Johnny had just gotten up to start washing dishes when the klaxon sounded.  
“Squad 51, unknown injury, 5-1-7-7 Sepulveda, time out 13:22.”  
Johnny turned on his heel and headed for the squad where Roy was already getting the engine started. He hopped in and grabbed his helmet, taking the paper Roy handed him.  
Since the rescue was vague, it could be anything and Johnny tried to mentally prepare himself for whatever was waiting for them. The lights from a police car helped them find their incident, which turned out to be a pedestrian who was insisting that he’d been hit by a car.  
“I stepped into the crosswalk and bam! the guy hit me and took off.”  
“Sir, please try to calm down. I need you to tell me what the car looked like.” Ponch sounded like he was on his last nerve right now and Johnny chuckled under his breath.  
“Why don’t you sit down sir,” said Roy using his best paramedic voice. Somehow, that tone got the man to sit on the sidewalk so that Roy could check him over.  
Ponch listened to the exchange between Roy and the man, letting Roy guide the man into giving Ponch some clues about what happened.  
“The car came out of nowhere. He had to be going 50. I barely had time to even look at it. Some dark colored car.”  
“Well what hurts?” prompted Roy.  
“Uh, well, nothing, actually,” said the man a bit sheepishly. “I mean, I thought that he hit me but maybe he didn’t hit me? Maybe he just scared me?”  
A thorough inspection by Roy and Johnny confirmed the man’s thoughts. There was no sign of any kind of injury.   
“Would you like to go to the hospital to get checked out, to make sure?” asked Johnny after he finished checking the man’s head for any bumps.  
“Ah, no, I think I’m fine,” he replied.  
“Ok, well, I need you to sign some paperwork,” said Roy getting up.  
Johnny started to pack up the equipment and glanced up at Ponch.  
“Interesting day?” he asked looking at Ponch with an amused smile.  
“You have no idea,” replied Ponch with a sigh.  
Johnny picked up the biophone and turned to look at the motor officer. Johnny could find out if he knew the mystery officer and at least find out if he should stop berating himself for missed opportunities.  
“Uh, hey, you remember that accident on the 405 a couple days ago,” started Johnny slowly.  
“Yeah.” Ponch nodded, looking confused.  
“Well, there was an officer there,” started Johnny, “with blond hair. You don’t know who she was, do you?”  
Ponch nodded his head. “You must mean Bonnie. I think the only other CHP officers there were Jon and Grossie.”  
Johnny nodded. “Is she single?” he asked deciding straightforward was the best plan.  
“Heh, yeah, she is,” said Ponch with a chuckle.  
“What’s that mean?” asked Johnny looking confused.  
“Well, Bonnie’s got a strong personality,” said Ponch with a smile on his face. “I can let her know you’re interested, if you want.”  
“Sure, if you think of it,” said Johnny with a shrug.  
“Come on Johnny,” yelled Roy.   
“Coming!”  
“I mean, if you think of it,” said Johnny with a backwards glance at Ponch.  
Ponch just nodded and laughed. “Sure thing.”


	4. How Do You Move On?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Jon's POV.

A week had passed since Jon had asked the universe for a disaster. In that week, he felt as though everything that could possibly go wrong was going wrong. He had tried to call Ann, tried to fix what had gone wrong and she ended up hanging up on him. He had been avoiding Ponch and now Jon was fairly certain that Ponch was mad at him. He had made up excuses for at least ten different events that various friends had asked him to go to and it was making his life complicated, keeping them all straight. Now, his Sergeant wanted to see him although Jon couldn’t imagine what he had done wrong.  
He walked out of the briefing room and walked into the sergeant’s office, beating Getraer in the room. Whatever this was about, he just wanted it over with.  
“Jon?”   
“Yeah, Sarge?”  
Joe closed the door behind him and walked over to the desk.  
“Sit down please.”  
Jon dropped himself into the nearest chair, staring at the ground.  
“What’s going on with you?” The sergeant’s voice was one of actual concern. In truth, Joe was very worried about Jon. One of his best officers, the normally cheerful young man had been utterly miserable this past week. Something was off but Jon hadn’t told anybody what was wrong and was avoiding every person he could.  
“It’s nothing. I just haven’t been feeling well.”  
Getraer’s eyebrows shot up. “Nothing? Jon, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were replaced by an alien. Ponch is worried about you, Grossie’s worried about you. I’m worried about you. Is there something that we can do to help?”  
Jon continued staring at the floor, saying nothing. Joe waited, hoping that the silence would help the man open up. Finally, he decided to ask the specific question that had been weighing on him, hoping that his guess was right.  
“Does your mood have anything to do with the accident last week? Grossman said that you were trying to help with one girl. I had heard that she didn’t make it.” He paused again, waiting.  
Jon finally looked up. “She didn’t make it?”  
The sergeant shook his head. “I thought that Grossman told you. One of the paramedics had told him a couple days ago that she died.”  
Jon groaned. “He didn’t tell me that.”  
Getraer stood up and put a hand on Jon’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault.”  
Jon sat there, long after his sergeant had left the room, staring at the floor. His friends might not think that it was his fault but he new better. This was all his fault, he had asked for the universe to intervene and now someone was dead because of his wish.  
After a few moments, Jon got up and headed out for his patrol. The morning was a quiet one, much like it had been a week ago. Jon glanced at his watch to see it was just noon. He figured he should find something to eat. No sooner did the thought cross his mind than a blue car sped past him, careening onto the highway on ramp. Jon kicked his bike into gear and took off after the car. He had just gotten on the highway when he realized that he would need some help. The speeds were going to get far to fast for his motor, especially if the car stayed on the freeway.  
“LA - 7 - Mary - 3, in pursuit of a blue sedan heading east on the Santa Monica freeway.”  
He heard dispatch send out the call and concentrated on keeping up with the car. The speeds were getting to be dangerous but Jon was managing. He could hear someone coming behind him, probably Bonnie or Baricza and then he could back off.  
Everything happened quickly but to Jon it seemed like slow motion. The blue car cut off a pickup truck, which quickly hit its brakes. That caused the station wagon behind the pickup to swerve into the lane to the left, which was where Jon was. He hit the brakes as hard as he dared, swerving over to avoid getting hit by the car but the bike’s momentum was to much. He hit the ground with the bike. He thought that a prayer would probably be good right now, if he was a religious man. Then everything went dark.

All he could feel was pain. His chest hurt a lot. A leg too. That was good though, he was pretty sure. If he was in pain, he was alive. His eyes felt far to heavy to open but he could hear a lot. Beeping, for one. It sounded like a million things were making beeping noises. Just underneath that, the voices of people. They sounded familiar but he couldn’t place them. Then the silence overtook him again and there was nothing.

Very slowly, he turned his head. He still felt pain. His leg must’ve been pretty bad. He felt slightly more awake though and managed to open his eyes. Sitting next to his bed was his mother. That meant that he’d been out of it for at least a couple of days. She looked to be sleeping and very slowly Jon moved his head to see the rest of the room. When he got to the other side of his bed, he saw Grossie sitting there.   
“Uh, G-gr-gr…” It was harder to speak than he thought it would be but Grossie heard him, looking up from the magazine that he’d been reading.  
“Jon? Hey! Hold on, I’ll get you some water.” He kept his voice low, to not wake up Jon’s mother. The water was wonderful although he only managed a tiny sip. There was an ache in his chest.   
“Wha happen’d?” Jon managed to mumble out.  
“You don’t remember the accident?” asked Grossie, looking concerned.  
Jon tried to think for a moment. He did remember some of it.  
“Little bit,” he said.  
“I’m going to get the doctor, ok?” said Grossie as he stood up.  
A moment later, a friendly looking grey haired man was in the room with Grossie hovering behind him.  
“Welcome back, Jon. I’m glad you’re awake. Let me check you over a bit, alright?”  
The doctor flashed lights into his eyes several times, asked Jon to follow his light with his eyes and checked his pulse before smiling.  
“You’re a pretty lucky man,” the doctor said finally. “I’m Doctor Early. Do you remember the accident at all?”  
“Some,” said Jon slowly. “My bike went down.”  
Grossie nodded behind Dr. Early but still looked worried.   
“How long have I been out?” Jon asked, finally aware that it was no longer Thursday.  
“Three days,” the doctor said calmly. “You have a nasty concussion, a broken leg and some fractured ribs. And a lot of friends, who have been very worried about you.”  
Jon caught Grossie’s smile behind the doctor. “I’m going to let every one know that he’s awake.”  
“Let them know that he can only have two visitors at a time and only for a few minutes. I don’t want him overwhelmed just yet,” replied the doctor, glancing over his shoulder.  
Grossie nodded and headed out of the room.  
The conversation woke Jon’s mother, who was thrilled to see her son awake.  
“How do you feel, Jon?” she asked resting her hand on his cheek.  
“Um, like a mess, actually.”  
“I’m not surprised,” said the doctor. “You’ll start to feel better a little at a time. You’ll probably have headaches for a few months from the concussion and the leg will take a few weeks to heal but that’ll be handled with an orthopedics doctor. At any rate, you’re not going anywhere for a few more days and we’ll see how you are then.”  
Jon sighed, trying to figure out how much movement his chest could handle. “Thanks doctor.”  
The doctor smiled at him again and headed out of the room.  
The next few days were a stream of people in and out. Ponch seemed to come by every day, usually in the morning and the evening. Grossie came by frequently too, checking to see if Jon needed anything. On the third day, Jon got quite a surprise when two men he didn’t recognize came in.  
“Hey there,” said the bigger man cheerfully. “I”m very glad to see that you’re doing ok. I’m Bob and this is Craig. We responded to your accident.”  
Jon smiled at the two. “Thank you, both. I imagine I was a heck of a mess.”  
“Certainly,” said the smaller man, “but you look much better now.”  
The handy-talkie that the bigger man was holding went off just then and Bob sighed.  
“Well, that’s our song. Glad to see you’re doing better.”  
Jon nodded as the two men headed out the door, heading for whatever mess awaited them. As they headed out, Joe Getraer walked into the room.  
Jon had been dreading the moment his sergeant would show up. He had messed up and he knew it, even if he couldn’t really remember it.  
“Hey Sarge.”  
“How are you feeling Jon? Ponch told me you were almost ready to go home.”  
“Yeah, they said I can go tomorrow. My mom is going to be staying to help me for a few days.”  
“That’s good. I expect it’ll be awhile before you’re back on your motor though.” Joe glanced at the cast on Jon’s leg and Jon nodded.  
“Another four weeks at a minimum, before that can come off and even then I won’t be able to ride for another couple weeks.”  
“Good. That means you’ll have plenty of time to explain why you did something so reckless.”  
Jon felt a flush creep up to his cheeks, knowing that his superior was angry with him.  
“I’m sorry Sarge. I didn’t want that guy to get away and hurt anybody.  
The older man just stood and frowned at him. Jon took a deep breath.  
“Anyway, I’ve paid off my debt now, I suppose.”  
Getraer looked at him, confused. “What debt?”  
“This sounds silly but that accident on the 405? The one that killed that girl? It was my fault, sarge.”  
The older man waited, clearly needing more explanation.  
“That day, I asked the universe for some kind of disaster to get out of having to deal with the rest of my problems and no sooner did I ask than Grossie’s call came over the radio. That girl dying was my fault.”  
A look of understanding came over Joe’s face as he realized what Jon meant.   
“That wasn’t your fault Jon. You might have asked for a disaster but the actual accident had already happened by then. Grossman was at the scene of that for a good two minutes before he called it in, trying to triage and asses what happened. He should have called it in sooner so if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Grossman’s. And I don’t blame him either.”  
Jon frowned.  
“I mean it Baker. That was not your fault and you shouldn’t feel responsible for it, no matter what you may have been thinking.”  
Getraer gently patted his shoulder. “I’m going to head home. Get some rest, ok?”  
Jon nodded. His thoughts were still rolling around in his head and none of them were very pleasant.


	5. No Such Thing As An Accident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Craig's POV, same day as Jon's accident in Chapter 4

Craig hesitated as he stood outside of the hospital room. Artie had insisted that the young woman he had saved wanted to speak with him but Craig was having a hard time believing it. He couldn’t really explain why though. Bob, of course, had encouraged Craig to come up to her room and say hello. Dixie had assured him that she was still here, although she was supposed to go home in the next couple of days. Craig paused about to knock and took a deep breath in. Something in him was nervous but he couldn’t explain what or why. Finally he knocked.  
“Come in.” He recognized her voice and the same strange feeling settled in his belly.  
“Hi,” he said pushing open the door. “A friend of mine said you’d like to see me.”  
The look on her face said that she recognized him although he couldn’t imagine how she could remember him.  
“My name’s Andrea and I did want to see you. I need to tell you thank you. You can’t know how thankful I am.”  
“It’s my job,” said Craig carefully. He could feel a flush creeping up his cheeks.  
“Oh, I know, but you were so calming. In the ambulance, I mean.”  
Craig looked at her curiously, not sure what she meant. She had been unconscious for most of that trip.  
“I remember you telling me that it would be alright and that we were going to the hospital.”  
Craig blushed. “I didn’t think you could hear any of that.”  
She nodded. “I could hear it. You were so calm about everything. It made me feel better. And when I opened my eyes, well, I’ve had dreams about the accident and they all seem to end with that moment. You are very good at what you do Mr. Brice.”  
“Uh, thank you.”  
Just then Bob walked into the room. “Hey, there you are! We need to get going. Hi, miss. I’m glad to see you’re doing so well.”  
“Thank you. I was just telling Mr. Brice how much I appreciate everything he did for me.”  
Bob grinned. “Well, Craig is one of the best.”  
“Would it be possible for me to thank you all with dinner? I mean, everyone who was there? You all did so much for me and I can’t tell you how much it means.”  
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” said Craig quickly.  
“I want to!” she insisted. “Besides, it’s what I do.”  
Craig and Bob looked at each other curiously for a moment before looking back at the young woman sitting in the bed.  
“I’m a chef,” she explained. “I work for my father, in his restaurant. I’d love for you all to be my guests. Please?”  
Craig and Bob looked at each other again. Bob shrugged.  
“Well, certainly,” said Craig finally. “If you let us know the details then we’ll let everyone else know.”  
“Wonderful!” The smile filled her face and despite a bruise that was still on her forehead, it was apparent that she was a very pretty girl. “I’ll call you at your station and let you know, ok?”  
Craig nodded and the two men headed back down to their squad to get back to work.  
Craig was silent the entire way back to the station. It wasn’t until Bob parked the squad that he decided to call Craig on the silence.  
“Ok, spill it.”  
“What?”  
“Why are you so quiet? I mean, you’re not usually an extrovert but you do usually talk to me. What’s up?”  
Craig stared straight ahead for a moment before turning to look at Bob. “I don’t know that I can explain it.”  
“Try.”  
“That was the second time in my life that I’ve ever seen that woman. Both times now, when I see her I get this strange feeling. It’s not nerves and it’s not bad but I’m not sure that it’s anything I’ve ever experienced before. I don’t know what to call it.”  
Bob watched Craig for a moment. “Do you like her?”  
“I don’t even know her!”  
Bob chuckled. “So, you don’t believe in love at first sight?”  
“That’s silly. No and certainly not with a woman who is probably only feeling an immense amount of gratitude that I played a role in saving her life.”  
Bob saw the flush that crept onto Craig’s cheeks and said nothing.  
“Alright, pal. I just think that there might be something to it. I mean, I’m pretty sure that my sister and her husband were like that.”  
Craig gave Bob a derisive look before climbing out of the squad and heading into the dayroom.

The next night, Craig was working on getting ready for game night. He had decided that tonight would be a good night for something simple so he dug through the pile in the closet until he found Battleship. The box was beaten up but it wouldn’t require much thought and right now he needed some time to not think about much. They’d have to switch off since only two people could play but it would work out alright. The knock on the door made him jump and he shook his head, thinking that he needed more sleep.  
“How are you doing Artie?” asked Craig with a half smile.  
“Pretty good but Harlan isn’t going to make it. He’s got three bikes in the shop and he needs at least two of them working by tomorrow.”  
“Huh. Well, this will work out really well then. I actually pulled out Battleship.”  
Artie grinned and sat down at the table. He looked at Craig for a moment.  
“Craig, are you alright?”  
“Certainly. Why do you ask?”  
“You look like something’s bothering you. Did you have a bad run yesterday?”  
Craig shook his head and sat down across from Artie before taking a breath.  
“It’s nothing, honestly. I just have a strange feeling that’s been following me around and I can’t seem to shake it. Since that’s unusual for me, it’s been bugging me. I’m sure it’ll pass.”  
“Well what’s the feeling?” Artie looked concerned.  
“It’s the girl that you asked me to go see. I did go see her yesterday. Which reminds me, she wants to treat us all to dinner. She’s a chef, apparently, and she has planned to make us all dinner as a thank you.”  
Artie grinned. “Sounds good to me! You still didn’t say what the feeling was though.”  
“I don’t really know what it is. Both times that I’ve seen her it’s happened though. Very odd considering I don’t know her.”  
“Maybe you should get to know her,” said Artie, watching Craig’s face for his reaction.  
“She is grateful that I’ve saved her life. I wouldn’t want to lead her on and make her think that I have feelings for her, especially given how she feels right now. It wouldn’t be appropriate.”  
“I never said anything about having feelings. I just said you should get to know her.”   
Craig looked at Artie’s face and could tell that what he just said made his friend think that there were some feelings there. Craig knew better and now Artie was behaving like Bob, acting as though there was some kind of greater power bringing them together. She was a victim while Craig was on his shift. There was no mystery. It was simply a coincidence.  
Artie sat back in his chair for a moment before looking at Artie.  
“How about a game or two of Scrabble?”  
Craig nodded and went to get the game from the closet, promptly pushing all thoughts of a pretty brunette out of his head.


	6. Out of the Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy’s POV, one week after Jon’s motorcycle accident.  
> I realized that it was probably getting difficult to tell what the time frame was for the story with the shifting POV, so I figured I'd add some time frame too, to help a bit.  
> So... is anybody actually reading this??

Roy pulled into his parking spot and sighed. He had to make a decision today and he really didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t sure that he was making this decision in the right frame of mind. Of course, in this job, every day could be good or bad or a mixture of both and usually it was a mixed bag. One bad day, one bad shift wasn’t a reason to quit being a paramedic. This particular case, however, was asking Roy think that it was time to move on.  
He and Joanne had talked about it at length the day before. Roy had been doing this job for a long time and she was willing to support him doing it for as long as he wanted. It was becoming more obvious to him that he was ready to move on. Now, the job was like a shadow looming over him, making him wonder what each day might bring and whether he could save the people that needed him.   
He glanced over and saw Captain Stanley was already here, which was good. Roy headed inside and changed quickly, hoping that he could see his captain before anyone else got in to the the station. As Roy walked out, he nearly ran into Mike.  
“Oh, hey, sorry Stoker.”  
“No problem. Just watch where you’re walking,” replied the man with a chuckle.  
Roy grinned at him and headed to the Captain’s office. He didn’t notice the other man watch where he was going.  
“Hey Cap?”  
Captain Stanley looked up, a little startled. “Morning Roy. How are you?”  
“I’m alright. I wanted to talk to you about something.”  
“Come on in, pal.”  
Roy shut the door behind him and sat down next to the desk before looking at his superior. He loved the man and didn’t like the idea of leaving the station but as he sat down, he knew that his heart wasn’t in his job anymore.  
“Cap, I want to sign up to take the engineer’s test. The one in two weeks.”  
“Two weeks? Roy, are you sure that you can be ready for the test that fast?”  
Roy nodded. “Yes, sir, I can. I’ve kind of kept my mind on the material ever since the last time.”  
Hank looked at his senior paramedic with some concern.  
“You sound very sure about this. Are you definitely interested in the promotion.”  
“It’s time, Cap. I’ve always felt like when the time was right for me to move on, I’d know. And I’m sure it’s time. Just, please don’t tell anyone yet. I haven’t told anyone what I’m doing.”  
Hank nodded. “Sure, no problem.”  
“Thanks, Cap. I’m going to go get some coffee.”  
“Roll call will be in ten anyway.”  
Roy nodded and walked out into the bay. He looked at the squad for a moment, the place he’d called his for several years now and then he looked over at the engine.   
“Time to go, huh?”  
Roy startled at the quiet voice next to him.  
“Mike. Yeah, I think it is.”  
“I understand. You just get to that place where you know that it’s time to move on.”  
Roy looked at Mike, hearing the tone of voice and understanding what he was saying.  
“Are you testing too?”  
Mike nodded, looking a little wistful. “I’ve loved being here, you know? This crew has been amazing but I need to think about my family and I’ve been an engineer for quite awhile. It’s time for me to move up.”  
“They’ll be fine without us, you know?” said Roy as he looked back at the squad, thinking of his partner.  
“You might not be the only one there in two weeks,” said Mike as he glanced at the kitchen. Both men had heard the sound of a door slamming which meant that someone else was here.  
“Who?” asked Roy quietly.  
“Marco,” replied Mike.  
Roy nodded. That would leave Chet and Johnny here and he knew that Johnny wasn’t interested in leaving the paramedic program yet. Those two were very good friends and they would probably get closer if all three of them ended up leaving. Just then Chet ran through the bay from the kitchen and Captain Stanley stuck his head out the office door.  
“Roll call in five, fellas.”  
Roy and Mike walked into the kitchen to get some coffee and were soon greeted by the rest of the shift. Maybe it was his imagination but he, Mike and Marco seemed to be more quiet than usual.  
After roll, Roy started in cleaning the bay and got some time to just zone out. His mind was on the upcoming test and how to tell his partner that he was leaving. Having passed up his first chance at a promotion, Roy had often told Johnny that he loved his job and that was the truth. Roy did love his job and he was good at it. However, he had also always carried with him the knowledge that at some point, he would have to move up. After passing up his first chance, he told himself that he would be a paramedic until he couldn’t anymore. He had definitely reached that point. He was tired and he needed a change. Not just a change of station but an actual change. He sighed to himself hearing Johnny and Chet in the dorms, having it out again. The two men were good friends but their friendship was based on the driving each other crazy. If Mike and Marco left, he wondered what would happen to that friendship.   
Roy was startled back to reality by the tones dropping.  
“Station 51, Engine 16, Truck 127, respond to a house fire, 2067 Harper St, 2-0-6-7 Harper, time out 925.”  
In one motion, Roy kicked the mop bucket out of the way and grabbed his turnout where it sat on the back of the squad. He headed for the door of the squad as Mike passed him on his way to the engine. The two men exchanged a look that clearly said it was about to be a day.  
When the got to the scene, 16s had already started working on putting the fire out. Roy threw the squad into park and noted Johnny headed for the other station’s captain to see what they needed to do.  
It was then that several things happened at once. A man drove up to the house and got out of the car, quickly grabbed by Marco as he tried to make his way into the house and a woman opened a window on the second floor of the house. She had a small child in her arms and Roy instantly went into rescue mode. He couldn’t see any way up to the window and one look at the front door told him there was no way in there.   
Roy ran for the man on the lawn who was yelling. “Sir, is there another way to get upstairs?”  
“In the back of the house!” he shouted, panicked.  
Roy and Johnny took off for the back of the house, followed closely by Chet who was dragging a hose behind him.  
Roy kicked open the back door and was greeted with a cloud of thick smoke and groaned. Dropping down low to the floor, he entered the house, looking for a stairway that would get him upstairs. He moved as quickly as he could in the dark smoke and tried to listen for anything that might give him a clue as to where he needed to go. All he heard was the creaking of wood and it sounded pretty ominous.  
Finally, he stumbled across a set of stairs, a few feet from the flames that were creeping in from the living room. He ran up the stairs, not liking any of the sounds around him and hoping that he could get out of this house before it gave up. He followed the hallway, setting his hand on the wall, noting that it was warm. The fire was in the walls and that meant nothing good. He found the room the woman was in, trying his best to get her to listen to him. He took the child from her arms and handed the toddler off to Johnny who was right behind him. He half dragged the woman back down the hallway after checking to see if there was a better way out. He was very unsure that he could get back through the house. Once they got to the stairs, Roy realized they had a problem. Johnny had gotten back down with the child but there was no way that he was going to get down those stairs because the fire had crept down the hallway and was blocking their way through.  
Silently cursing, he carried the now unconscious woman back up the stairs into the room they had been in. Marco had apparently been told by Johnny that Roy was trapped because he was already getting the ladder they had on the truck. He passed off the woman to Chet as quickly as he could, glancing down at the flames that were filling the front of the house below them. He managed to get himself down the ladder without getting hurt and thanked whatever deity he could think of because a moment later, a loud bang told them that the floor had collapsed.  
Johnny had taken over care of the woman and Roy checked on the toddler, who was sitting with his father.  
“You guys all set?” asked Mike quietly.  
“Yeah,” replied Roy, rubbing the back of his neck.  
“He’s got this under control, huh?”  
Roy turned and looked at Mike before nodding. “He does. I think we’ll be ok, you know?”  
Mike just smiled before heading back to the controls on the engine.  
The ride back to the station was quiet. Roy considered telling Johnny he was taking the test but there would be plenty of time for that later. Besides, he might not score so well and then he’d get Johnny worried for nothing.  
“Hey Johnny?”  
“Yeah?”  
“You did a great job today.”  
The younger man turned and smiled at him, taking in the praise.


	7. Breaking Bread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Artie's POV and takes place three weeks after Jon's motorcycle accident.

Artie sighed as he pulled a sweater over his shirt. The promise of food was driving him to go but he honestly didn’t want to be there. It seemed as though this accident was messing with all of his friends. Hopefully, this night would put an end to the mess and things could start getting back to normal. He tried to force a feeling of happiness onto his face before heading out to his car.

The restaurant was a nice place that served mostly Italian food, which was always a good thing. Artie glanced around the room, recognizing a lot of the faces. He knew most of the names even if he didn’t know the people really well. He spotted Craig across the room talking to another paramedic and a couple other men. He headed over to the small group.  
Craig smiled as Artie walked up. “Hi Artie. Have you met everyone here? This is Roy DeSoto, Mike Stoker and John Gage. They all work out of station 51.”  
The three men nodded and Artie noticed the youngest of the group grimaced when Craig introduced him as John.  
“How are you guys doing?” asked Artie grinning.   
“Pretty good. Say you don’t know who that blond is over there?” asked John, who was focused on the person he referenced.  
Artie turned around to see Bonnie Clark talking with Ponch.  
“Uh, yeah, I do know her actually,” replied Artie, winking at Craig. The two older men both rolled their eyes, as though this was not new behavior for their friend but it seemed to be a friendly gesture.  
“Excuse me,” said Mike quietly. “I don’t need to watch Johnny make a fool out of himself.”  
Roy looked at Johnny and shook his head. “I’m going to go find Joanne.”  
Both men walked away without being noticed.  
Artie raised an eyebrow at Craig who shrugged.   
“Her name’s Bonnie,” said Artie finally.  
Without a word, John walked off, although not toward Bonnie and, Artie shook his head, somewhat confused.  
“So Craig, how are you?”  
His friend looked at him for a moment before answering. “Alright.”  
“Really? You don’t look alright to me.”  
“I’ll be fine. After tonight everything will go back to normal.”  
“I sure hope so,” mumbled Artie glancing around the room. He spotted Jon Baker sitting across the room by himself looking down. “I’m going to go check on Jon. I’ll be back in a minute.”  
Craig nodded, seeming to only half hear his friend.

Artie crossed the room and sat down next to Jon.  
“How do you feel? Leg doing ok?”  
“I guess,” replied Jon. “It’s healing. Hopefully the cast will come off in a couple more weeks.”  
“Then we can get you on some desk duty?” asked Artie hopefully. He missed seeing Jon and he was fairly certain that the man needed to get out of his apartment.  
“That’ll be up to Getraer, I suppose.”  
“But it’ll be better than sitting at home alone, right?”  
Jon didn’t answer him and Artie was concerned. He felt sure that Jon was lonely but every time Artie had tried to go over and see him, Jon never answered the phone or the door.   
“So, how’d you get here tonight?” asked Artie after a lengthy pause.  
“Oh, Ponch came and got me.”  
“Jon, you can’t hide at home forever.” Artie said it quickly and somewhat angrily, feeling as though his friend was avoiding talking to him.  
Jon turned abruptly and looked at Artie with surprise. “I’m not hiding.”  
“What do you call it? You can’t really go anywhere but any time I call or come over there’s no answer.”  
Jon had the presence to look slightly embarrassed at this but he didn’t reply.  
“What is this really about?” asked Artie forcefully. Truthfully, this wasn’t like him but he felt like he needed to find out what was going on with Jon. “Is this still you thinking you owe the world some kind of debt? Because you don’t. And it wasn’t your fault that any of this happened. It was the guy driving the truck who was drunk out of his mind that was at fault.”  
Jon stared at Artie, probably in shock because Artie was never like this.  
“I can decide who’s fault it is,” he said finally.  
“No, Jon. You’re blaming yourself. Although I don’t even know what was going on before that but something has been eating at you for a month now.”  
“Look, I don’t want to talk about this now, ok?”  
“Then when? If I come over tomorrow will you be there? Will you answer the door? Or will you just hide from me again?”  
Artie didn’t wait for an answer. He simply got up and walked away, hoping that his words made an impact and that when he went by the next day, Jon would let him in.  
Looking around the room, he noticed Ponch and Bonnie still chatting so Artie headed over to see if the young man from before had said hi yet.

“Hey guys!”  
“Hi Grossie,” replied Ponch with a grin.  
“Grossie!” smiled Bonnie, giving him a hug.  
“Uh oh. What’d I do?” he asked, looking at the woman.  
“Nothing,” she replied. “It’s a good night to remember that we do good sometimes. Not always just pulling people over and making them annoyed.”  
“Well, we didn’t have much to do with the rescuing part,” pointed out Ponch.  
Bonnie shook her head. “We were there and we helped. Some of us were more help than others but we all played a part.”  
Artie noticed the dark haired young man out of the corner of his eye and decided to ask Bonnie about him. “Have you met that guy yet?” he asked her with a wink.  
Bonnie turned and looked where Artie was looking. The young man looked away shyly. Artie noticed Roy give him an odd look and mumble something to him but the younger man simply shook his head.  
“I don’t think so. He’s pretty cute,” Bonnie said quietly.  
“He’s a paramedic,” said Artie, “and I think he likes you too. Come on.”  
Taking Bonnie by the hand he brought her over to the group and noticed that she didn’t argue with him. He took that as a good sign.  
“Bonnie,” began Artie, “these are some of the paramedics and firefighters that were there that day. Roy, Bob and -?”  
He paused, unsure of the man’s name.  
“Johnny,” said Roy filling in the blank as the younger man blushed.  
“Hi,” said Bonnie. She looked at the man and smiled, which only served to make him blush more. Artie noticed Roy and Bob exchanged smirks.  
“So Bonnie,” began Bob who gave a sneaky wink at Roy, “what do you like to do when you’re not at work?”  
“Oh, you know, things outside. Roller skating, horseback riding.”  
John glanced up at her at the mention of horses.  
“Really? You like horses? I know a great place to ride.”  
“Oh I haven’t had a chance to ride in a long time. Maybe we can go ride this weekend?” said Bonnie with a smile.  
Artie grinned. He had known instinctively that if Bonnie was put in the right position she’d likely make a move, especially if she liked the young man and it seemed like she did.  
With a nod at the other two men, Artie moved away from the pair, leaving them to talk.  
“Hopefully he doesn’t make a total mess of this,” said Roy with a sigh.  
“He’ll be fine,” said Bob. “The boy’s just a little smitten is all.”  
Roy chuckled and nodded. He glanced across the room, where his wife stood talking with a couple other wives. “I can understand that feeling.”  
Artie chuckled. “Well, I gave him a chance. That’s all I can really do.”  
At that moment, dinner was served and everybody spent the night enjoying the food. At one point Artie noticed that Andrea was talking with Craig and he hoped that conversation was going well. He also noticed that Johnny and Bonnie seemed to be near each other for the rest of the night. Perhaps that was going well. If it ended poorly he’d hear about it eventually but for right now he was happy that his friends were generally doing well. All except for one. Hopefully he could do something about that tomorrow.  
In the end, Artie went home full. He walked into his apartment and sighed. Some days he really wished that he had someone to share it with but so far, that hadn’t happened. As Artie got ready for bed he reflected on his friends. He really did hope that they were all happy.


	8. Comfortable and Uncomfortable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny's POV, beginning the night after the thank you dinner (which, although Johnny doesn't know it, is also the day that the firefighter's exams are).

Johnny rolled over in his bed and looked at the clock. It was seven in the morning and just as if the wake up tones had gone off John was awake. He sighed and rolled out of bed to head to the bathroom. When he had finished in there he walked back out to his bed and flopped down on it again. Tomorrow he had to work. Then something clicked in his brain. Today, he would see Bonnie again. The blond CHP officer had been very excited about the idea of horseback riding and Johnny could only see that as a good thing. He was very unlikely to look foolish riding a horse. When she had said roller skating, he had gotten worried but thankfully she hadn’t suggested that. He glanced at the clock and decided to get up. He didn’t want to be late.  
By ten that morning, he was ready to go and checked several times to make sure that he had everything he needed. He found Bonnie’s apartment easily and headed up the stairs. Outside the door he paused. His nerves were kicking in and the last thing he wanted was to get nervous. That’s when things ended badly. He took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm down and then knocked on the door. It opened a moment later and Johnny couldn’t help but grin.  
“Hi!” said Bonnie with the same kind of nervous smile.  
“Uh, hi. Are you ready to go?”  
“I am. Let me grab lunch.” She turned around, grabbing a bag off the table that Johnny could see from the open door and headed back to where he waited.  
“After you,” he said, letting her walk down the stairs in front of him.  
The two got into Johnny’s truck and he headed for the highway. The stable that they were headed for was about an hour outside of the city and he felt the nerves start to creep in as he realized that he wasn’t sure he had that much to talk about.  
Fortunately, Bonnie was good at chatting and the first forty-five minutes saw them talking about their jobs and some of the crazy things that happened. Even though they had very different jobs, they saw a lot of the same craziness and the two spent most of the time laughing at various escapades that people had found themselves in.  
As Johnny got off the highway, the pair found themselves driving in comfortable silence and once they got there, most of the talk was about horses and riding and how long it had been since either had been on a horse.  
“I miss this,” said Johnny with a sigh as they headed down a well worn trail.  
“It’s always so peaceful out here,” agreed Bonnie. “At least it’s calm. And I know that it’s not going to be crazy like work.”  
“Nope. Nice and relaxing.”  
Johnny turned and smiled at her and again the pair found themselves riding along, quiet but enjoyably so.   
“So,” said Bonnie after several moments of silence, “how long have you worked with your partner?”  
“Awhile,” admitted Johnny. “In fact, I’m surprised sometimes that we’re both still paired up. You know how sometimes the powers that be like to shake things up to keep everybody on their toes?”  
Bonnie chuckled. “Yeah, they do like to throw curveballs every now and again. You two must be close.”  
“We are. There’s not much we don’t know about each other. We’re best friends and we work together. I love his kids, feel like part of the family really.”  
“How does his wife handle it?”  
“Joanne? She’s great. I mean, she’s been with Roy from when he first started so she knew what she was signing up for, so to speak. They’re lucky. They’ve been in love since they were ten.”  
Bonnie giggled. “I didn’t think that happened anymore.”  
“Well, that could be a slight exaggeration but they really have been together since high school and I know that they’re in love. You can tell.”  
“So are you going to go back to firefighting?”  
“I dunno. I guess someday I’ll have to, to move up, you know? I love what I do though and I love my partner. He’s turned down a promotion to keep doing this job.”  
“He’ll want to move up eventually, won’t he?”  
Johnny hesitated. In truth, he had been wondering why Roy hadn’t moved up since he turned down the first promotion. Since that time he hadn’t even taken the engineer’s test again. The entire crew had been together for long enough that they knew each other’s idiosyncrasies. They had moments where they fought but they were brothers, had each others’ backs and didn’t keep secrets.  
Bonnie recognized the hesitancy, when Johnny didn’t answer her and wondered what that was about but let him go down whatever train of though had taken over in his mind. Besides, they were almost to their picnic spot, a clearing off the trail that had some privacy and where the horses could rest before they headed back.  
Lunch was simple with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, some apples and some potato chips. The water they had brought with them was still cold, since Johnny had frozen it the night before and the lunch was wonderful. They chatted some more before heading back to the stables and their regular lives. The two managed to talk the entire ride back to Bonnie’s apartment and Johnny was pleased when he realized that they had been together for hours and nothing crazy had happened to him.  
The two walked up to Bonnie’s door where she turned around and smiled at him.  
“Thank you. I had a lot of fun.”  
Johnny grinned. “Good. So did I.” He hesitated for a moment, wondering about what to do next. Before he could figure out whether he should kiss her, her lips were on his. The kiss was soft and hesitant and lasted just long enough to become comfortable.  
“I’ll call you,” he said when the kiss ended.  
Bonnie nodded. “Ok. Have a good night.”  
Johnny nodded as she shut the door. It was then that he let out the breath he was holding. He headed back to his truck and felt himself grinning. This feeling would probably last all week. Maybe he could call her in a couple of days, if he could wait that long.  
When he got to work the next morning he immediately noticed that something was off.  
“Mornin’ Marco,” Johnny said, greeting the older man with a grin.  
“Mmm,” was the only reply he got and watching the man, he realized that Marco was very distracted by something.   
Johnny shrugged and headed into the bay to start checking the squad and found Roy, staring at the drug box with a slightly lost look on his face.  
“Roy?”  
“Wha?” asked his partner, looking up.  
“You ok?”  
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”  
Johnny watched him carefully and decided that Roy was definitely not fine but he figured that Roy wasn’t in a mood to talk right now. He barely looked like he was on this planet. Maybe he’d fought with Joanne.  
With another shrug, Johnny took a small step backwards to grab the trauma box out of the squad and felt himself run into someone. Turning, he found himself face to face with Mike.  
“Jeez, watch where you’re going Gage,” snapped the engineer.  
“Sorry,” mumbled Johnny, feeling very confused.   
“Roll call in five,” shouted their Captain. Johnny sighed as he looked around the station and wondered how the day would go. It seemed like he was the only person who’d had a good day off. Somehow, it seemed as if the moment he found a woman who could be good for him, his friends ended up miserable.  
“I hope that’s not what happens,” Johnny mumbled to himself.  
He might have imagined it but as he turned to head for roll call he thought he saw Roy look at him with a very sad expression.


	9. Being Fallible, Even if it's Just in Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Craig's POV, same day as Chapter 8 just a different place.

Craig slammed the compartment closed on the squad and sighed. He knew that Bob would be asking him questions soon enough and the last thing he wanted to do was answer questions. Especially since right now, he wasn’t sure of most of the answers. Craig hated feeling like that. He headed for roll call and half listened to his captain’s announcements lost in his own thoughts.  
“Brice??”  
“What?”  
“I said, you have the dorms.” His captain looked at him with concern. “Are you alright?”  
“Yes, sir. I’m fine. Dorms. Got it.”  
Bob turned and looked at him with his eyebrows raised.   
“Alright. Dismissed.”  
The crew of station 16 headed off to start their various chores and Craig turned to go work on the dorms. He didn’t make it more than two steps though.  
“Hey kid, wait a second.”  
Craig ignored Bob and kept walking, knowing that his partner would catch up with him soon enough. He was right. Within a moment, Bob was in front of him, and put out a hand to stop Craig from going any further.  
“What is wrong with you?” asked Bob, exasperated.  
“Nothing. I was just distracted, that’s all.”  
“Well then maybe I should let cap know,” said Bob. The tone of his voice told Craig that he wasn’t kidding.  
“It’s nothing like that. I’m more than capable of doing my job.”  
“Then what is going on with you? For the past month you’ve been acting as though you’re a ghost most days. I mean, you never say much but at least you were around. Now half the time you’re nowhere to be found.”  
“I’ve just been thinking about things.”  
“Like Andrea?”  
“No.” Craig’s answer had been to fast though and Bob knew it.   
“Come on, kid. I know you better than that.”  
Craig shook his head and walked away. For once, Bob didn’t follow him and Craig found himself grateful that his friend was giving him space. He spent the next hour focused on making beds and trying to force all of the thoughts out of his head. He stood up, surveying the room and nodding. Everything was neatly done and Craig felt a sense of pride about it.  
“Brice!” came his captain’s voice.  
Craig walked over to the captain’s office and his heart sank when he saw Bob sitting in there. His captain merely motioned Craig into the office, shutting the door behind them. Bob at least had the presence of mind to avoid Craig’s stare.   
“Sit, Craig.”  
“I’d rather stand, if it’s alright, sir?”  
The older man scrubbed his face with a hand and looked at his youngest paramedic. He watched Craig carefully for several minutes and Craig hoped that his face wasn’t giving away anything.  
“Craig, Bob is concerned about you and frankly, so am I. So you’ve got two choices here. Either you tell us what’s going on or I’m going to have to send you home until you can figure this out.”  
“Sir, I haven’t had any issue doing my job.”  
“I’m aware of that but Craig, sometimes it goes beyond that.”  
Craig swallowed hard and stared at the floor. He looked over at Bob and saw genuine concern on the older man’s face.   
“Listen kid, I didn’t want to do this but something is really wrong with you and you aren’t letting anybody help.” Bob’s voice was quiet but sincere.  
“I don’t know how to explain this,” said Craig finally.   
The other two men waited.   
“I’ve had several nightmares,” started Craig quietly. “They all have to do with that accident a month ago. In the dreams, it’s like I’m lost. I don’t know what to do and everybody is waiting for me to tell them how to help.”  
Bob stared at him.  
“Every time I see Andrea, I’m reminded of the dreams,” continued Craig, “and I can’t help but think that I may have saved her but others didn’t make it.”  
“Wait a minute,” said Bob after Craig finished, “What do you mean, every time you see Andrea?”  
Craig felt heat creep up his face as he looked at Bob.  
“I’ve seen her a few times since that day. In the hospital. At the party the other night.”  
“When else?” asked Bob.  
“I checked on her at home a few times in between,” Craig said finally.  
Just at that moment, the tones dropped sending the squad out on a run.  
“We’re not done,” said their captain as the other two men ran.  
Bob pulled up to a quiet looking house five minutes later and a woman ran out to them.  
“In here,” she yelled, waving toward the house.  
Bob grabbed the trauma box as Craig grabbed the biophone and the two followed the woman inside to where a young boy sat on the couch, looking very dazed. Craig glanced at the wall, noticing smoke marks all along the space behind the couch.  
“Ma’am, can you tell us what happened?”  
“I don’t know!”   
Craig looked at the boy on the couch.  
“Bad fuel mix,” he mumbled.  
“Huh?” asked Bob as he assessed several burns on the boy’s arms.  
“Model rocket?” guessed Craig.  
The boy nodded.  
“Oh!” said Bob understanding.  
“Did any get in your eyes?” asked Craig as he looked at the burns on the boys face.  
“I dunno,” he said. “It’s hard to see and my head hurts.”  
“He was laying on the floor when I got in here,” said the woman.  
Bob was taking vital signs so Craig turned to the woman.  
“Was he unconscious?”  
“I guess? I had been at the store,” she explained.  
Craig nodded and grabbed the phone.  
“Rampart, this is squad 16, how do you read?”  
Bob handed Craig a paper with vitals written on it as Dr. Brackett’s voice came back across the radio.  
“Rampart, we have a 10 year old boy who was injured in a model rocket explosion. He has burns over his arms and face and was found unconscious. Vitals are BP 110/82, pulse 95 and respirations are 22. We are covering the burns with gauze and sterile water now.”  
“Sixteen, are there any other indications of respiratory issues?”  
“Some wheezing, Rampart.”  
“10-4 16. See if you can find out what the fuel was in the rocket. Also start an IV with D5W, TKO and transport as soon as possible.”  
“10-4 Rampart, IV with D5W TKO and transport.”  
Craig stood up as the ambulance attendants brought in the stretcher and Bob handed Craig the trauma box.   
“I’ll meet you at Rampart,” said Bob and Craig nodded.  
Thirty minutes later, Craig was waiting at the desk with Dixie next to him. Dixie was good at getting people to talk and Craig was no exception.  
“It doesn’t sound like your captain will send you home Craig.”  
“He will if he thinks that I can’t do my job and I just admitted as much to him.”  
“You did fine with this rescue.”  
Craig looked up at the nurse and smiled. “Thanks Miss McCall.”  
“There you are Craig! How’s our young man?”  
“Doing well Bob.”  
“Good, good. Let’s get going, huh?”  
“I suppose.” Craig looked over at the blond nurse who simply smiled at him before he turned and walked out to the squad.  
The two men climbed into the truck and Bob turned to look at Craig.  
“Nightmares? Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“I felt I could handle it.”  
“And why on Earth didn’t you tell me that you were seeing Andrea?”  
“I’m not.”  
“Craig, you don’t just go check up on patients.”  
“She didn’t have anyone except her father and he was busy at the restaurant. I felt that I should do something to help her.”  
“When’s the last time you saw her?”  
“Yesterday,” Craig admitted, not looking at Bob.  
“Yesterday?”  
“Well, I thought that I should check on her after her first full night working again.”  
Bob rolled his eyes. “Kid, why can’t you just admit it?”  
“Admit what?”  
“That you like her.”  
“I’m not sure that I do.”  
Bob sighed. “What do you call this then?”  
Craig shrugged. “I don’t know how to handle this Bob,” Craig finally admitted.  
“Ask her on a date.”  
“How?”  
“Just ask.”  
Craig slumped back against the seat. “Every time I’ve ever done that, it hasn’t ended well.”  
“Well sooner or later that’ll change,” replied the older man as he patted the younger man’s shoulder.  
Craig glanced over at Bob who just smiled back.  
“Come on kid, we have to get back.”  
Craig just nodded, feeling very unsure about everything.


	10. Digging out of a deep hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon’s POV, A month after his motorcycle accident, one week after the thank you dinner

Jon sat at the desk, staring at the paper in front of him. He was supposed to be following up on the information with the people who were in the incident but he had spent twenty minutes just staring at the paper with his mind wandering. Getraer allowing him to come back to desk duty had been both a blessing and a curse. Jon couldn’t have been more grateful to get out of his apartment. He really was starting to go stir crazy. However, that also meant that he had to deal with people that he’d been avoiding for weeks. Artie was still mad at him and Ponch had been very standoffish, although he had been willing to come and pick Jon up every morning. Bonnie had been in her own world, not talking much to anyone but walking around with a smile. Baricza had been pretty cold with Jon but Jon knew that was is fault. Ponch was the only person he’d spoken to after his accident and his mom had left. Before his mom left, Jon wasn’t even speaking with Ponch.  
“Jon, can I see you in my office please?” asked Getraer, bringing Jon back to reality.  
He headed back to the sergeant’s office and was surprised to get there and see both Artie and Ponch in there. Jon made his way over to the one chair left and went cold as he heard the door closed behind him.  
“Jon, what is going on?” asked Getraer. Joe was never one to be shy and this was no exception. He wanted to know what was going on with his officer.  
“Nothing, sarge. I’ve just been tired.”  
“I might be willing to buy that except that I’ve talked to both Grossman and Poncharello and none of us thinks that’s true.”  
“You’ve been avoiding everybody,” said Ponch, “like you think you should be punished.”  
“It’s not that,” Jon mumbled.  
“Then what is it?” asked Artie. “This isn’t like you.”  
Jon looked up at him and scowled. “Maybe it is.”  
“Jon, I can’t let you back on your bike until I know you’re ok. Right now, if you were well enough, I wouldn’t let you. In fact, I have doubts about whether you could even be in a patrol car.”  
“Sarge, I’m fine!”  
Joe said nothing but the look he gave Jon told him that he clearly didn’t believe a word he was saying.  
“Look partner,” said Ponch, “if it’s about that girl dying, that really wasn’t your fault. I even went and talked to the paramedics that were there. They said there was nothing anyone could have done.”  
Jon frowned at the floor, not looking up.  
“You didn’t mess that call up. I did.” said Artie quietly. “I should have done things differently but I didn’t.”  
“And that’s already been discussed,” said Joe cutting Artie off. “Look, that accident was a mess and lots of things went wrong. We learn from the mistakes so they don’t happen next time but nobody is at fault except for the guy who was drunk driving that truck.”  
The room was silent.  
“Here’s the deal,” said Joe after a moment. “Jon, if you want to be a CHP officer again, you need to see the department therapist. Otherwise, I’m going to recommend that you be assigned to desk permanently.”  
Jon looked up at his superior in shock. “Sarge? Really, I don’t think-“  
“But I do,” Getraer finished. “That’s the deal. You decide what you want.”  
Artie stood up and put a hand on Jon’s shoulder. “We really want you back out there, Jon.” Artie left the room quietly.  
Ponch sat there, quiet, watching Jon. “I miss you partner,” he said finally.  
Jon looked pat his friend and said nothing. Finally he got up and went to leave the office.  
“You’ve got a week to think about it,” said Getraer when Jon got to the door.   
Jon paused but didn’t look back and headed back to the desk to make the phone calls he needed to for that case.  
By the end of the day, Jon had a million thoughts floating through his head. He could tell by the tone of voice that Getraer had meant what he said. Jon couldn’t bear the thought of not getting to go back to his job but he really didn’t think he needed a therapist. He noticed Ponch come in for the end of shift. A few minutes later Ponch came over.  
“Ready to go?”  
“Yeah,” said Jon quietly.  
The two men got out to Ponch’s car and once Jon was in, Ponch turned to him.  
“You want to get something to eat?”  
“Sure.”  
“How about tacos?”  
Jon nodded. Ponch got to the little stand quickly and it was early enough that it was quiet. Ponch went to order while Jon made his way over to one of the picnic tables. Jon chuckled to himself, watching Ponch flirt with the woman making the food. Sure enough, in almost no time at all, Ponch was making his way over to Jon with their dinner.  
“Miracle worker,” Jon joked as Ponch sat down.  
“You just have to know what to say,” said Ponch with a smile.  
Jon nodded and picked up a taco.  
“So,” started Ponch hesitantly, “have you thought about what Getraer said?”  
Jon looked at Ponch as he chewed. After a moment he swallowed and nodded.  
“Yeah. I don’t think I need a therapist.”  
Ponch raised his eyebrows. “So you’re willing to give up everything?”  
“I didn’t say that,” replied Jon with a sigh.  
“So you’ll go?”  
“Do I have a choice?”  
“Well, not really. Unless you like desk jobs.”  
Jon frowned. “Not so much.”  
“Look, maybe it’ll be good? You know, find your inner self or something like that?”  
Jon shook his head. “Doubtful. I just wish I could go back to work. Or go back in time and do things differently.”  
“Can’t do that, unfortunately.”  
“Yeah, once you screw things up, that’s it.”  
“Not always. I’ve forgiven you. Artie will too. And Joe’s not mad. He’s just worried.”  
“Yeah? What about Bonnie? Or Bear?”  
“Heh. Bonnie’s in her own little world with her paramedic.”  
“What?”  
“Yeah, you missed that. Apparently, this paramedic asked Bonnie out and she’s been floating around like she’s on a cloud ever since. Kind of funny, actually.”  
“Really? Bonnie’s like a little girl with a crush?”  
“Of all people, right? I mean, it’s kind of cute. But don’t tell her that. She’ll bite your head off.”  
Jon chuckled, thinking of Bonnie’s recent behavior. The idea of Bonnie falling in love was a little silly but it also reminded Jon of where his whole mess started. He frowned at his taco.  
“That taco do something to you?” asked Ponch.  
“Nah. Just thought of something, that’s all.”  
Ponch waited but Jon didn’t say anything else. The two ate the rest of their dinner in relative silence. For once it was fairly comfortable though, as if their friendship had started to heal itself. When they finished, Jon decided that he knew how to fix things.  
“Hey Ponch? You want to watch the baseball game that’s on tonight?”  
“Sure! Maybe we should get some snacks on the way to your place?”  
Jon rolled his eyes and laughed. “No problem Ponch.”


	11. Trepidation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy's POV, two weeks after the thank you dinner. Things are about to get interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for not posting in awhile. The last semester of school is going to kill me...

Roy slammed the driver’s side door and rolled his eyes. Johnny was still going on about the young woman he’d been seeing. Roy thought it was awfully amusing that Johnny was that infatuated with a CHP officer but for once, it seemed to be going well although it was still early.  
“I’m telling you, this is something special,” said Johnny as he walked around the squad.  
Roy nodded but he was distracted by the sight of Marco walking out of the kitchen. He didn’t say anything to Roy but nodded in the direction of the captain’s office.   
“I’m gonna start on dinner,” said Johnny heading toward the kitchen.  
“Yeah, ok,” said Roy as he stood next to the squad.  
Marco walked over to Roy. “They’re in,” Marco said quietly.  
“How’d you do?” Roy asked him.  
“23.”  
“Nice work!”  
“Mike scored high enough too. He’ll probably be promoted within a month.”  
Roy nodded and headed into the captain’s office with Marco behind him.  
“Cap?” said Roy as he got to the door.  
Hank turned and handed Roy a small slip of paper and took a deep breath. “Congratulations Roy.”  
Roy looked at the paper to see a 5 written on it. He stared at the paper in disbelief. He glanced up to see Mike standing in the doorway.  
“How’d you do?”  
“Five,” said Roy quietly.  
“Whoa,” said Mike.   
“With that score,” started Marco but he never got to finish his sentence. Just then Johnny and Chet walked over.  
“Hey, what’s going on over here fellas?” asked Chet curiously.  
“Test results came in,” replied Hank glancing at the three men in his office before looking at the two standing outside.  
“Wait, who tested?” asked Johnny, looking at the three men in Hank’s office with confusion.  
Mike took a breath. “I did,” he said. “I took the captain’s exam.”  
“Nice!” said Chet. “How’d you do?”  
“Uh, pretty good. Good enough that I probably don’t have much time left here.” He looked down at the floor as he said it.  
Roy felt heat rising to his cheeks. No matter how well Mike had done, engineers positions tended to open faster than captains. His score meant that he probably had less time than Mike, although he wouldn’t know for sure until an offer came. He stared at the paper again, in disbelief. He’d never thought he would do that well. He thought he’d have more time.  
“Uh, Roy, what’s that paper?” asked Chet.  
Roy looked up and caught Johnny’s look. It was a question and Roy didn’t need to ask him to know what the question was.  
“Well, I took the engineer’s exam again,” he started. He stopped, unsure of what to say next and unwilling to look at his partner. He could feel Johnny staring at him.  
The universe decided that Roy’s next words could wait as the tones dropped, sending the squad on a run. The rescue turned out to be a heart attack and Johnny rode in the ambulance with the victim, leaving Roy to take the squad in to Rampart. He paused as he got out of the squad and looked at the hospital. Even though he still knew he was ready to move on, he hadn’t expected that it would happen quickly. There were people to say goodbye to, people to say thank you to. He walked into the emergency department and walked over to the nurse’s station, looking at the base station and glancing around the currently quiet hallway. As an engineer he would spend far less time here.  
Roy had no idea how long he stood there, staring at the desk, waiting. It was Johnny who brought him back to present.  
“Why didn’t you tell me you were taking the test?”  
“I thought it would be easier to wait and see where I scored before getting everybody all excited.”  
“Where did you score?” The question held a note of fear.  
“Five.”  
Roy looked up when there was no reply to see Johnny just staring at him. He felt bad now, wishing he’d said something sooner.  
“Are you taking it this time?” This time the question seemed to already know the answer that was coming.  
Roy nodded. “Yeah, I am.”  
“No second guessing?”  
“No. I knew before I took the test that if I was offered a position I’d take it.”  
Johnny stared at him for another moment before turning around and walking out of the hospital without saying another word. Roy felt like he wanted to cry.  
“You ok Roy?” The voice was familiar and Roy turned to see Bob standing there.  
“I don’t know right now Bob.”  
“What happened? Johnny looked pretty upset.”  
“Yeah. I took the engineer’s exam. I never told him about it though.”  
“Didn’t scores come out today?”  
Roy just nodded.  
“How’d you do?”  
“Five.” Roy was beginning to hate the number five.  
“Whoa. That’s good. I mean, if that’s what you want?”  
“It is,” said Roy slowly. “I need to go. I just never thought it would be this hard.”Bob nodded. “Why didn’t you tell Johnny?”  
“I didn’t want him to get all worked up about it.”  
Bob nodded again. “Yeah but sometimes it hurts when our friends keep secrets.”  
Roy looked at Bob for a moment wondering what he meant because he clearly had a deeper meaning in mind when he said it. Right now, Roy had to go talk to his partner and see if it was fixable.  
“I gotta run Bob. I’ll talk with you later, ok?”  
“Sure. Congratulations, by the way.”  
“Thanks,” replied Roy with a half smile.  
When Roy got to the squad he looked over at Johnny and opted to not say anything. The drive back to the station was quiet and not in a good way. Unfortunately, when they got back to the station things went from bad to worse.  
“Can you believe him?” asked Chet as Roy walked into the dayroom.  
“Who?”  
“Marco. Why didn’t he tell me?”  
Roy shrugged glancing over at Marco who looked a lot like Roy felt.  
“Chet, man, I told you, I’m sorry.”  
“Yeah well you’ll be gone before you know it and then what?”  
Roy sat in a chair and stared at the table. He groaned when Chet started talking again though.  
“Do you know what he got Roy? Do you? Thenty-three! That’s good enough that he’ll have a promotion in less than six months more than likely. My partner, just abandoning me and didn’t even have the nerve to tell me what he was doing.”  
“Yeah well it’s not just your partner,” spat Johnny, as he walked into the room.  
“What?” asked Chet.  
“Five,” snapped Johnny, looking at Roy.   
Chet turned to stare at Roy. “He’s kidding, right?”  
Roy shook his head. Roy jumped at the sound of a pot hitting the counter, followed by the door slamming. He looked up to see that he and Marco were now alone in the room.  
“What have we done?” Roy asked Marco quietly.  
Marco just shook his head.  
“You guys ok?” came Mike’s quiet voice.  
The two men turned to look over at him.  
“I still think they’ll be ok.” His voice was as calm as it could be but he looked sincere as he spoke. “They just need some time to adjust to a new normal. Hey, maybe Roy will be the engineer here.”  
Roy glanced up at Mike who was trying to not laugh. For the first time that day, Roy felt himself smile.  
“Probably not very likely, Mike,” he said with a smile.  
“You never know. Anyway, let’s not worry about it right now. I mean, our captain is about to turn over half his station and the two men left might just become mutinous.”  
Marco chuckled. “Yeah, can you see Chet and Johnny leading a mutiny?”  
The three men looked at each other and burst into laughter. They had a reason to be proud and a reason to celebrate and Mike was right. You never knew what was going to happen in the next day.


	12. Contrition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, from Artie's POV. Takes place the same day as the firefighters get their exam results.

“I don’t know if I can arrange that,” came Joe Getraer’s voice.  
Artie didn’t usually eavesdrop but he decided this was an exception to his rule. Jon was sitting in Joe’s office and they were discussing whether or not Jon could go back on patrol when the doctor finally cleared him. Jon had already started seeing the therapist, as Joe had asked, but now Joe was questioning whether to let Jon go straight back and everybody was wondering why.  
“Sarge, that’s not fair. I’ve done what you asked me to.” Jon’s voice sounded slightly bitter.  
“I’m not saying that you can’t go back out eventually,” started Getraer.  
“Then what are you saying?” snapped Jon angrily.  
“I’m saying that your therapist doesn’t think you should be back out just yet.” The reply was even but there was a note of warning in it, to watch the tone.  
“So what do I do, sit around here?”  
“Yes. You can stay on the desk or you can quit and find another job. I won’t put you back on your motor until I know that it’s safe. For you and for everyone else.”  
Artie had to move fast because in an instant Jon was hobbling out of the office. His normally happy face was angry and he nearly ran into Artie.  
“Whoa, sorry,” said Artie, hoping he sounded innocent.  
“Move,” snapped Jon.  
Artie stepped out of the way and watched Jon go. He looked up to see his sergeant was watching too. Joe looked at Artie and his face was full of concern.  
“I don’t know what to do,” muttered Joe before turning around and shutting the office door.  
Artie stood in the hallway for a moment. He could follow Jon but he hardly looked like he wanted to talk. For that matter, neither did his sergeant. Artie finally sighed and headed out to his bike. He waved at Harlan, across the parking lot as he picked up his helmet.  
“Hey Grossie, want to ride with me for a bit?”  
Artie turned to see Ponch, looking concerned.  
“Sure,” he replied as he put on his helmet. “Let’s go.”  
The two officers headed out for the streets, both knowing that they wanted to talk about the same thing. Artie followed Ponch to an overpass where the two parked their bikes and could watch the traffic on the highway below. Artie waited for Ponch to start talking.  
“I’m worried about him Grossie.”  
“Me too. I’m not sure what we can do though.”  
“Thing is, this started long before that accident. In fact, it started months ago now and I just never said anything. Maybe I should have.”  
“You didn’t know it was this bad. Although, I’m not even sure what’s gotten him down. Something shook him good.”  
“Well, yeah. It was me, I think.”  
“Wait, what?” Artie stared at Ponch trying to figure out what he meant.  
“This goes back awhile, I guess. Probably six months.”  
Artie waited for Ponch to tell the story and had to admit he was curious as to why Ponch felt he was responsible for Jon’s odd behavior.  
“Do you remember a girl I was seeing then?”  
Artie nodded. “I think so. Rachel? Or was it Raquel?”  
“Rachel,” replied Ponch. “Well, do you remember how I met her?”  
“Uh, not really. Should I?”  
“No. But I bet Jon remembers.”  
Artie looked at Ponch curiously.  
“Jon was dating her. She told him that she didn’t want to see him anymore and then a few weeks later, she called me up.”  
“Did you go out with her?”  
“Yes and I made the mistake of telling Jon about it.”  
“Why was that a mistake?”  
“The girl that Jon was seeing after Rachel, he told me that he really liked her. I think he thought that she was more than just another girl. Her name was Emily.”  
Artie nodded. He remembered Emily and he was sure that Ponch was right about her and how Jon felt about her.  
“Well, the weekend before that big accident she broke up with Jon. She told him that she was confused about her feelings because she had met someone that she was attracted to. She didn’t tell him who but he saw her talking to me a few days later at the station.”  
“Wait,” said Artie slowly. “You mean she was attracted to…?”  
Ponch nodded. “Me. The day before that accident, she came to the station and found me. She told me what I just told you. I turned her down but I know he saw us talking because I saw him.”  
Artie sighed. “So Jon’s depressed about that and then the accident was making all of that worse.”  
“Probably,” said Ponch.  
“So what do we do to fix it?”   
Ponch glanced over at Artie and shrugged. “I don’t think that I can. I tried to talk to him about it while he was on bed rest at home and got nowhere.”  
Artie sighed.  
“Seven-Mary-Five, 10-25 S-7 at Central.”  
“10-4.” Artie looked over at Ponch. “Let me think on this. We’ll figure something out.”  
Ponch just nodded and Artie headed back to the station to find out what Getraer wanted.  
Twenty minutes later, Artie found himself walking back to Joe’s office but this time he was sitting in it instead of hovering outside it.  
“Sarge?”  
“Come in Grossman. Shut the door.”  
Artie pulled the door closed behind him and sat down next to the desk.   
“I need to ask you something Arthur.”  
Artie’s eyebrows shot up at the use of his name. Nobody called him that and it almost never was a good sign when someone did.  
“Sure, Sarge. What is it?”  
“I want to pull you off your motor for a couple of weeks.”  
“Sir?”  
“Not as a punishment. I want you to ride in a patrol car with Jon. I want you to tell me if you think he’ll be ok on the street. On or off a motor.”  
“I can do that.”  
“I mean it Grossman. I need to know if he’s going to be ok out there. He’ll be cleared physically Monday. His therapist is still questioning some things. I need to know how he is out there.”  
“Ok,” replied Artie, “but wouldn’t Ponch be better?”  
Joe shook his head. “I want honesty Grossman. Ponch is to close to Jon.”  
He nodded. “I can do it.”


	13. Goodbyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny's POV, about 2 weeks after the exam results came out.

Station 51 was unusually quiet after the wake up tones went off. Johnny rolled over and looked at Roy for a moment. His partner was still half asleep and was rubbing his face trying to wake up. Sitting up, Johnny could just see Chet lying on his bunk, staring at the ceiling. Johnny heard Captain Stanley acknowledging they were up as he shuffled out of the dorms toward the kitchen. He was only part way there when he smelled the coffee which could mean only one thing. Mike was already up. Johnny wasn’t surprised. The previous shift had been fairly quiet for both the engine and the squad and the result was that they had spent most of the day completely aware of the fact that their next shift would be very different. Today was Mike Stoker’s last day as the engineer for Station 51’s A shift and it was Johnny’s last day as Roy’s partner. When Mike had joked that Roy might be 51’s new engineer, he had meant it as just that. A joke. When Mike was told that he’d be going to Station 93 as their new captain he had been completely floored when Captain Stanley asked Roy if he was ready to be an engineer. Sure enough, Roy was offered the spot Mike was leaving, a coincidence that couldn’t have been more strange. Roy accepted and it had been very odd for Johnny to watch Mike teaching Roy what he could before he took over.   
“Mornin’ Mike,” said Johnny as he stumbled into the kitchen.  
“Hey Johnny.”  
“You ok?”  
“Yeah. It’s just strange to know I’m not coming back.”  
Despite his assurance otherwise, Johnny heard an odd note in Mike’s voice and he knew the man was not as confident as he was letting on.  
“Mornin’ Roy,” said Mike, looking up from his coffee.  
“Morning,” replied Roy as he wiped his face again. He looked vaguely confused, as though he thought he might still be dreaming.  
One by one, the men made their way into the kitchen to get coffee and each one had a vaguely sad look on their face. Mike had been an amazing friend to each of them and the fact that he was going was hard. Captain Stanley, in particular, looked like he wanted to cry.  
As B shift started arriving, Johnny got a nervous feeling in his belly. The men on B shift were excited for both Mike and Roy and in truth, Johnny was too. Both men deserved the promotions they were getting. Johnny wandered out of the kitchen into the bay and stared at the squad. Next shift, he would still be in that squad but with a guy just off training, Mitchell. Johnny liked him and was excited to be working with him. He and Roy had trained Mitch and he was going to be great. Maybe he’d take the engineer’s exam next year. He hadn’t realized he was staring at the squad until he heard Roy.  
“You and Mitch will be great together you know.”  
“But it won’t be like we are.”  
“I hope not. Mitch is great but he’s not me. Don’t try to make him me, huh?”  
“Nah. It’s just going to be odd to have you here but not here.” Johnny pointed at the squad.  
“Heck, I figure it’ll be a month before I stop trying to go out with the squad myself.”  
Johnny laughed.  
“Hey guys. I’m heading home. I guess I’ll see you around.”  
Johnny and Roy turned to look at Mike.  
“Good luck,” said Roy as he shook Mike’s hand.  
“You too. Keep her running good, yeah?”  
“No problem.”  
“And Johnny, show the newbie how it’s done here at 51, eh?”  
“Yeah, sure.”  
Mike looked at the engine one more time before he turned and headed for the back door. Johnny and Roy watched him go before both of them headed to the lockers to change.  
By that evening, Johnny was still distracted even though he was at dinner with Bonnie. She had asked him if he wanted to get tacos, which normally was one of his favorite things to eat.  
“John?” Bonnie asked. “Is everything ok?”  
“Huh?”  
“I said, is everything ok? You seem distracted.”  
“Oh. Well, I guess I am. Today was Mike’s last day, which means,”  
“Your last day with Roy. Are you going to be ok with it? I mean, Roy will still be there and I know that means a lot to both of you.”  
“Yeah. It’s still hard to change. Not having Roy with me for every run, you know?”  
Bonnie nodded, thinking of Jon. She had missed his normally cheerful presence around Central and she very much wished that Getraer would let Jon back on duty. So far, though, the Sergeant had been steadfast in his insistence that Jon was only allowed to be out with Artie and in a car.  
“I do. I mean, we still don’t have Jon back on duty and things are strange with both him and Artie in a car instead of on their bikes.”  
“Any idea when they’ll be back on their bikes?”  
“No. And Sarge has been very insistent that Jon’s not ready yet. He hasn’t really said why and I think that Jon’s getting more frustrated by the day.”  
“Hopefully things will get back to normal soon.”  
“For both of us,” agreed Bonnie.  
Two days later, Johnny was heading back to the station and feeling nervous. He knew that Roy would be there but he didn’t know how the day would go. Roy was already changing when Johnny got there. Roy was pinning his new badge onto his shirt and looked a little overwhelmed.   
“Hey partner,” said Johnny, trying to sound more cheerful than he felt.  
“Hey Junior. How are you feeling this morning?”  
“Nervous? How bout you?”  
Roy just shook his head and swallowed.  
“You’ll be fine.”  
Roy nodded and tried to look confident. He pulled his shirt on and headed out to the bay. Johnny pulled his shirt off and pulled his uniform shirt out of his locker. Just then Marco walked in looking a little hesitant.   
“Marco?”  
“Yeah. I’m ok. It’s just strange to not see Mike out there with the engine.”  
Johnny nodded as he tucked in his shirt. The door opened as he sat down to put on his shoes and Mitch came in, looking nervous.  
“Hey Mitch,” said Johnny cheerfully. “Welcome to 51!”  
“Thanks man. This is a little odd. I mean, seeing Roy out there and knowing that I kind of took his job.”  
Johnny chuckled and stood up, giving Mitch a pat on the back. “Not really. It’ll be ok pal.”  
Mitch nodded and Johnny headed out to see if there was coffee in the kitchen. As he walked past the engine, he noticed Roy and Captain Stanley talking. He wondered what they were talking about and if they were nervous.  
Chet sat at the table with a cup of coffee talking with a couple of the guys from C shift. Johnny generally didn’t pay any attention to Chet and today was no exception. Eventually Chet would ask Johnny what he thought about all the changes. Johnny still wasn’t sure that he knew.


	14. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon's POV, about one week after Johnny and Bonnie's conversation

“Baker, I need to see you in my office!”  
Jon got up and hoped that today would be the day. He had been talking with the therapist that Getraer said he needed to see. He felt like he was making real progress. He had been feeling better recently, less angry, less sad and more like himself again.  
He walked into the segment’s office and tried to look more confident than he felt. “Yes, Sarge?”  
“Have a seat Jon.”  
Jon sat down next to Getraer’s desk. A ball of anxiety settled into his belly and he tried to remind himself that no matter what happened, it would be alright.  
His sergeant looked at him for a moment before speaking. “Jon, I’m going to let you back on your motor. You are still on probation but I feel as though you’ve made progress. You need to keep seeing the therapist until she completely clears you and if you stop, you’re off the bike. Clear?”  
“Yes, sir!”  
“Alright. In that case, get out there. I want you to stay with Artie for awhile.”  
“Sure Sarge.”  
“And Jon? Welcome back.” Joe smiled at him and Jon couldn’t help but smile back.   
He walked down the hallway, hoping to find Artie. Instead, he ran into Bonnie.  
“Jon! You’re smiling again. Does that mean good news?”  
“I’m back on my bike. I’m still on probation and still riding with Artie but I’m just happy I’m on my bike.”  
Bonnie grinned at him and walked off. Jon realized that she had a different look about her, as if she was incredibly happy. He wondered what was going on but didn’t have time to ask her because just then Artie walked up.   
“So I hear we’re on motors today.”  
“Sarge gave me the go ahead.”  
Artie grinned and walked into briefing. Jon glanced around the room and could feel the eyes of several people on him. Lots of people were curious about what was going on with him and he disliked the staring but as of right now, he couldn’t care less. He was going to be back where he belonged today.   
For the first time, Jon sat next to Ponch and didn’t feel any of the anxiety that he had felt before the accident had even happened. That was one of the things that he had ended up talking to the therapist about. Several times, she had encouraged Jon to talk with Ponch about it but as Jon started to feel better he realized that he didn’t care. Relationships ended all the time and girls would come and go. He’d meet somebody when the time was right and Ponch certainly didn’t steal any girls from him. In fact, Ponch had been honest with Jon about it and that was pretty valuable in a friendship.   
Jon had also found that he had some pretty wonderful friends in his life, besides Ponch. Artie, in particular. Jon had never paid much attention to Artie, had always felt like Artie was just to different from him. He had come to realize how untrue that was recently. Artie was loyal and cared about his friends and he was great at listening. Once Jon started talking to Artie, he discovered that even though Artie could ruin a surprise party, when it was something serious, the man could keep a secret.  
Briefing ended and for the first time in over two months, Jon walked outside to get on a motor. He and Artie headed across the lot to the garage where Harlan was waiting.  
“She’s good as new,” said the mechanic. “Try not to drop her today.”  
Jon smiled. “No promises.”  
“Come on,” Harlan groaned.  
“I’m kidding! Sarge would kill me.”  
“Me too,” said Artie. “Come on, let’s go.”  
The two men got on their bikes and headed out. They patrolled streets for a couple of hours. Two tickets later, they stopped for a snack. Artie sat down with coffee and a donut while Jon grabbed a coffee and the two sat next to a window so they could watch the traffic while they took a break.   
“So how do you feel?” Artie asked.  
“Good. I don’t think I realized how much I missed this.”  
“You know, you seem better overall. Are you actually feeling better?”  
“Yeah, I am. I can’t explain how I ended up in such a funk but I feel better and I can think about things a lot more clearly.”  
Artie smiled and the two headed out to watch the highway for a few hours. The morning went so well that Jon began to feel suspicious. Surely, things wouldn’t be this quiet. He knew better than to ask for a disaster ever again but the quiet was wearing at his nerves. He was just about to ask Artie if it was making him nervous when the radio beeped. Both men looked down, confirming Jon’s hunch that Artie was just as hesitant about their run of good day.  
“Any units in the vicinity of Colfax and 23rd, please respond.”  
Artie grabbed the mic. “L.A., 7- Mary-3 and 7-Mary-5.”  
“11-83 at the corner of Colfax and 23rd, 7-David requesting assistance.”  
“10-4”  
The two quickly pulled into the street heading in the direction of the accident. Artie glanced at Jon for a moment. Jon was hoping that he could handle whatever was waiting for him. two minutes later, they could see what the problem was. One car was flipped onto its roof and another was crashed into a telephone pole. Jon spotted Bear near the upside down car and he ran over.  
“The driver’s barely conscious. I got an ambulance coming. Check on the other car.”  
Jon nodded and headed to the other car to find three people, none of whom looked like they were in good shape. He took a deep breath. This was going to be hard and everybody was watching him. He needed to keep his head. He turned to find Artie next to him.  
“Think we can get them out?” Artie asked with concern.  
“We need to wait, I think. They look pretty bad.”  
They could hear the sirens approaching, so the paramedics would be there soon. Jon stood up.  
“Artie, I’m going to see if I can help Bear.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yeah, I’m sure.”  
Artie nodded and Jon headed back to the other car.  
“What do you need me to do?” Jon asked Bear.  
“Check on the passenger.”  
Jon nodded and managed to get the passenger door open. The woman looking back at him seemed dazed but was conscious.  
“Are you ok?” Jon asked as he checked her over quickly, looking for bleeding.  
“I don’t know. I feel strange. I can’t see very well.” She had an oddly grey color about her.  
“Just stay still. The paramedics are almost here.”  
“Please. Stay with me,” she mumbled.  
“Ok. Can you tell me your name?”  
“Ann.”  
“Hi Ann. I’m Jon Baker. I’m with the CHP. How old are you?” Jon was trying to think of anything to keep her talking.  
“I’m twenty.” As she spoke her voice wavered.  
“Do you go to school?”  
She nodded as an answer but Jon was having some serious doubts about whether she heard him or not. Just then one of the paramedics tapped him on the shoulder. He moved over so the man could get in and do his job.   
Looking around, he saw Artie directing traffic around the firetruck and he figured he might as well go help.  
Thirty minutes later, the accident was mostly cleared up and Jon and Artie found themselves walking back to their motors. Jon was surprised to see his sergeant standing there.  
“Sarge?” he asked fearfully, “Am I in trouble?”  
Joe shook his head. “No, Jon. I just wanted to see how you were doing. Bear said you did fine and from what I’ve seen, you were doing your job, the way you should.”  
Jon nodded. “So, am I off probation?”   
Joe grinned at him. “Not yet. But I am proud of how you handled yourself today.”  
Jon nodded again and he and Artie headed out to patrol the streets one more time before their shift ended. The pair didn’t speak the rest of the afternoon but the silence was comfortable. They simply enjoyed doing their job.  
“Hey Jon?”   
“Yeah?”  
“You did a great job today.”  
“Thanks Artie.”  
“Do you want to come over and watch the game tonight?”  
“What?”  
“Well, I do watch baseball, you know.”  
Jon laughed as he looked at Artie before he nodded. “That sounds great. I’ll bring the snacks.”  
“Perfect!” said Artie as they walked into the station to sign out for the night.


	15. Fixing What's Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Craig's POV, same day that Jon goes back out on his motor with Artie.

Craig was never a person who worried. He followed the rules, did as he was told and things would fall into place. That was how the world worked. Except that suddenly, his world stopped working. His captain had told him in no uncertain terms that if he continued to have issues he would be suspended. Craig had spent the past month working to ensure that he was his old self. Bob was still suspicious but Craig had found that the nightmares subsided with time and generally he was fine.  
Except he wasn’t.  
Bob had told him that checking up on patients wasn’t normal and Craig knew that. In fact, he had always made it a point of his professional behavior to not dwell on former patients. Andrea was proving to be a challenge in the area. Craig had been truthful with Bob when he said that asking women out had never gone well for him. Which was why he stopped doing it several years ago. He hadn’t really considered how he would meet anyone that way. After Bob had told him to ask her out, Craig had done the exact opposite. He hadn’t seen her in weeks. By now she had moved on, most likely.   
Craig found himself sitting in the squad, waiting for Bob, staring at the steering wheel. He missed her. He was miserable. The sound of the door slamming brought him out of his thoughts.  
“You ready?” Bob asked as he put his helmet on the hook next to him.  
“Yeah,” Craig replied.  
If Bob noticed the younger man’s uncharacteristic response, he said nothing and the ride back to the station was silent. Craig figured he’d better find a way to hide the misery or soon enough everyone would be asking questions. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked toward the dayroom door and put a shoulder to the door to open it. He hoped he had an expression of boredom on his face.  
“Oh there you are Craig!”  
He didn’t look up as his captain spoke to him but there was a pause that followed. That made him look up and as soon as he did, he wished that he hadn’t. Staring back at him was the one person he’d been avoiding.  
“Andrea? Uh… how are you doing?” Craig stared at her and realized that his voice wasn’t going to hold up. He immediately wondered why she was even there.  
“Well, I’m alright, but I was looking for you. I was a little concerned. I mean, I hadn’t heard from you in weeks and I thought maybe you had gotten hurt.”  
Craig stared some more, unable to form actual words. His brain was trying to figure out why she was worried about him.  
“I guess I’ll go. I didn’t mean to bother you.” She stood up quickly, with a red flush creeping over her face.  
Craig almost fell over as Bob elbowed him in the back. “Craig here will walk you out to your car, won’t you Craig?”  
Craig turned and looked at Bob who gave him a look that could only be described as a command.  
“Uh, sure, yes.” Craig stumbled towards the back door and got there first, opening it for her.  
Andrea stared at the floor as she walked past Craig and suddenly he felt like an idiot. He glanced over at Bob who had his arms crossed and was watching his partner carefully. Craig shut the door behind him, hoping that nobody would be watching out the windows. He glanced up to see that Andrea had nearly made it to her car so he ran across the parking lot to catch up with her.  
“Andrea, wait!”  
She turned around and paused, although the look on her face told him he didn’t have much time to say what he needed to.  
“I’m sorry,” he started.  
“Sure, it’s fine. I thought that you liked me. I was wrong. I won’t bother you again Craig.”  
“No, it’s not that. I did like you. I do, I mean.”  
“Strange way to show it, vanishing for two weeks.”  
“You’re right. It was infantile and uncalled for. I just didn’t know how to ask you out. Well, it’s more that I didn’t think you’d actually go on a date with me.” Craig stared down at the ground, feeling the flush creeping up his cheeks.  
“Why not? I told you that I liked you.”  
“I know. It’s just that - well, I’ve been told that before and frankly, I don’t believe it anymore. It’s a horrible excuse but it’s the truth. Guys with glasses and tendencies to be nerdy don’t get a lot of dates. They do have a lot of pranks played on them though.”  
“How could you think that? A month long prank is pretty excessive, don’t you think?”  
“Yeah. I’m sorry. That’s all I can really say. I”ll understand if you say no but would you go on a date with me. Maybe Monday?”  
“Craig, how can you ask me that after disappearing for two weeks?”  
He nodded. “Ok. Try and stay safe. Like I said, I understand.” With a deep breath inward, he turned to walk back inside, feeling tears burning at the back of his eyes.  
“I didn’t say no.”  
He stopped at her words and turned around.  
“I’ll give you another chance.”  
Craig nodded, swallowing down the lump that had formed in his throat. “Can I pick you up tomorrow at 6?”  
She nodded at him and he smiled at her. “Ok, I’ll see you then.”  
She gave him a smile before she got into the car and he shook his head as he walked back to the door. He was sure that he had an audience for all of that. Hopefully, they wouldn’t ask to many questions. Well, Bob would ask questions but maybe nobody else would. Craig didn’t think he’d ever been so happy to hear the tones drop for a rescue.   
“Station 16, Truck 127, Ladder 33, respond to a report of fire at 12-27 Westview. 1-2-2-7 Westview. Time out 1521.”  
Craig saw Bob get in the squad and ran for the other side while their captain acknowledged the call. Bob glanced over at him as he hit the siren.  
“You got a lot of questions to answer, kid.”  
Craig nodded as they made the left onto the street with the engine right behind them. They could see the smoke rising in the distance and Craig began to get nervous. It looked like a lot of smoke, which meant that there was probably need for more than just the couple of trucks that got called out. Sure enough, just before they got to the turn for the street, Truck 127 came across the radio.  
“L.A., this is Truck 127. We’re going to need a second alarm for this. Engine 16, hit the west side of the structure.”  
Their captain acknowledged the request and then the tones dropped for the second alarm.  
“Station 51, Battalion 14, Engine 69, respond with Truck 127. 1-2-2-7 Westview, repeat 1-2-2-7 Westview. Time out 1529.”  
Craig didn’t hear anything else as they pulled up to the house. It was definitely going to be salvage and more concerning was the house next door, which looked to be in trouble if they didn’t get some water on it soon.  
“Bob, Craig, grab a line!”  
The two men nodded, working in tandem, in the way only they could. They rarely pulled lines anymore and the feeling gave Craig a thrill. He noticed several other men working on the front of the house and a third team trying to get water onto the roof. He and Bob pulled the line to the house next door and started to wet it down to cool it off.  
Soon the scene was busy with the second assignment arriving. Craig was concentrating on keeping the house next door cooled, so he didn’t notice the house that was burning behind him. Neither did Bob. So it came as a complete shock when Craig heard a bang and suddenly felt himself flung into the house that he was wetting down.   
He must have lost consciousness because the next time he opened his eyes, he was looking up at Mitchell Lawrence.  
“Mitchell?”  
“Yup. How do you feel Craig?”  
“Ok,” he said trying to sit up when he was suddenly overcome with dizziness. “Or maybe not. How’s Bob?”  
“Bob’s ok,” replied Mitchell. “He’s worried about you. We all are, actually.”  
“How long was I out?” he asked.  
“Ten minutes,” came Johnny Gage’s voice. Craig turned his head to see the dark haired paramedic kneeling next to him on the other side. “You’re going to Rampart, Craig.”  
Craig nodded. A moment later, he found himself in the ambulance with Johnny headed to see Dr. Brackett.  
“How do you feel now?” Johnny asked as he took another blood pressure.  
“Better, I think.”  
“Good. Probably just a concussion. That was a heck of a blast you took Craig.”  
“What was it?”  
“Gas tanks in the garage, we think. Not real sure yet.”  
“Ugh. Where’s Roy? Why’s Mitchell with you?”  
Johnny scrunched up his brow. “Didn’t you hear?”  
“No. Hear what?”  
“Roy’s an engineer now.”  
Craig searched his mind, trying to recall if he’d heard this information. “How’s he doing with that?”  
“He’s doing well,” replied Johnny quietly.  
“You’re not.”  
Johnny sighed. “Not really. He’s still at 51 and I think it’s making things harder. I keep expecting him to get in the squad with me.”   
Craig heard the tone of voice and realized what the other man was feeling but not saying. He missed his partner.  
“Yeah, I don’t know what I’d do if Bob became an engineer.”  
Johnny didn’t say anything and Craig closed his eyes. His head was starting to hurt.  
It turned out that he did have a concussion and a huge bruise on his forehead where he’d hit the wall. Even his helmet hadn’t been able to protect him from a fair bit of damage. Craig groaned inwardly as he sat on the exam table with a massive headache and a stern warning from Dr. Brackett to go home and rest.  
“You’ll need somebody to wake you up every two hours,” finished Dr. Brackett as he finished up Craig’s discharge.  
“Oh, uh, I don’t think that - ,” Craig started.  
“No problem,” interrupted Bob with a smile.  
Craig looked at Bob with confusion. “You have to go back to work,” he pointed out to Bob.  
“Yup. I made a phone call though,” said Bob with a slight smirk.  
Craig was confused but decided that the pain in his head was enough that he didn’t want to think about it anymore. Instead he closed his eyes again, wishing that the lights weren’t so bright and that he could actually just lay down and get some sleep.   
“Your ride is here,” announced Bob.  
“Ugh,” Craig replied.  
“Ready?”   
Craig instantly recognized the voice and his eyes snapped open. It was a poor choice that he immediately regretted but he was proven right. He looked over at Bob, who was still standing there with a grin on his face.  
“Hi Andrea,” said Craig with a sigh.


	16. Having Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy's POV, starting with the fire where Craig gets hurt

The tones dropped causing the six men standing in the kitchen to look up.  
“Station 51, Battalion 14, Engine 69, respond with Truck 127. 1-2-2-7 Westview, repeat 1-2-2-7 Westview. Time out 1529.”  
“Second alarm,” muttered Captain Stanley. “Must be rough.”  
Roy nodded as he headed for the engine. It was his third shift as the engineer for station 51’s A shift and he still felt like he was off. Marco and Chet were pretty forgiving and were very supportive of Roy as he learned his new job. He was actually very thankful that he knew these men. Any other station might have meant a rougher transition. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what to do because he did. Rather he felt as though he was out of sync with the rest of his crew. He knew that it was because he shifted jobs and they had spent a long time working with Mike as their engineer. There were adjustments that had to be made for new crew, even if they were old friends.   
It also didn’t help that Johnny was not terribly accepting of the transition. At first, Roy had thought that time would help but here they were three shifts out and if anything, it was worse than it had been. Johnny had stopped speaking to him and had actively started avoiding him. If Roy walked into a room, Johnny walked out of it. Roy had spent a lot of time considering what to do about all of this and was mid thought when he climbed up into the engine. In this moment, his mind was focused on what he needed to do.  
A shiver went down his spine when he saw the fire. Cap had been right when he had said it must be rough. The house wouldn’t be able to be saved and the crews were working hard to ensure that nobody else lost their house in the process. Marco hopped down and pulled a line to the closest hydrant as they got to the scene while Roy pulled the engine forward and got to work. From where he was, he could see the garage of the house and a pair of men trying to keep the neighbor’s wall cooled off. Captain Stanley sent Marco and Chet to the front of the house to help another crew and Johnny and Mitchell pulled a line to head for the back of the house.   
That was when Roy noticed the garage had a very odd fire burning. The garage door was closed but there was an unusually large amount of smoke coming from underneath the door.  
“Cap!” Roy yelled, pointing toward the door.  
His captain turned as he yelled, in time to see the garage essentially explode. Roy had to remind himself that his job was the engine but he saw the pair of men hit the wall of the house and he flinched. One man in particular hit hard and Roy was worried that he was seriously hurt.  
“Gage, Harris, we need paramedics out front!” Captain Stanley yelled into the HT and Roy took a breath as he watched the two men run over. The larger of the two men stood up with Johnny and walked toward the squad and even from a distance, Roy recognized Bob, which meant that the other man had to be Craig. Roy’s attention was split between watching the gauges on the engine and watching Mitch and Johnny work. He couldn’t help it. Being a paramedic was ingrained in him. He saw Johnny get into the ambulance with Craig and sighed as he looked back at the house, which was finally getting to the point of under control.   
Chet and Marco came back to the engine to get some tools to begin making sure that the fire was truly out and there were no embers left that could start things up again. Roy concentrated on starting to collect the line that had been strung out. Next shift would have to hang hose, more than likely and Roy sighed. They might be able to get it done when they got back if nobody was to tired.   
“How are things going Roy?”   
Roy stood up and turned to see Bob.  
“Ok. How are you? That was a hell of a hit.”  
“I’ll be ok. Just sore, probably but nothing’s broken and I didn’t lose consciousness. I’m going to take the squad over in a bit and see how Craig is.”  
“Good. I hope he’s ok.”  
“Yeah. Well, he’ll need somebody to watch him tonight, for sure.”“You going to do that?” asked Roy with a chuckle. “I mean, he doesn’t have anyone else to do it, does he?”  
“Actually, he does. I’ll have to call her.”  
Roy knew he had to look surprised. He couldn’t recall Craig having a girlfriend at any point.  
“He’s not going to like what I’m going to do. I think it’s for his own good though. He needs to talk to her and hopefully he can work out whatever it is that’s keeping him from admitting that he likes her.”  
“Well, he’ll forgive you eventually, right?”  
Bob shrugged. “How’s Johnny been?”  
“I’d rather not talk about it,” sighed Roy as he put up the last of the hose.  
Bob looked at him with some pity. “Harder than you thought, huh?”  
“Yeah. I kind of wish that I changed stations now.”  
“Have you heard from Stoker?”  
“Yup. He’s doing a great job. We all knew that he would. If only I could do as good a job as he did.”  
“Takes time Roy. You weren’t a great paramedic from day one.”  
“Hah! That’s your opinion.”  
Bob smiled. “I gotta run. I’ll talk with you later.”  
Roy nodded and smiled. He leaned bak against the engine for a moment and closed his eyes.   
“Hey pal, you’re doing a great job.”  
Roy opened his eyes to come face to face with his captain.”  
“Thanks Cap, but I know I’m not.”  
“Roy, you’re being to hard on yourself. You’ve been an engineer for three shifts. You’re doing better than you think.”  
“What about Johnny?”  
“Well, he’s got to adjust but he’ll get there. You two have quite a history and I don’t think that he’ll hate you forever. It’s different for him.”  
Roy nodded.  
Marco and Chet finally stumbled over, looking exhausted.   
“I’m famished,” muttered Chet.  
“Aren’t you cooking tonight?” asked Roy looking at the curly haired man.  
“Aw, man!”  
Marco laughed. “I don’t think we’re getting dinner any time soon.”  
Chet wandered over to the other side of the engine to get in while Marco followed Roy.   
Back at the station, Roy tried to relax but he kept thinking about the situation with Johnny. If he was honest with himself, he knew that the transition would be difficult but he had expected things to be harder on him than his best friend. He was so focused on his new responsibilities that he hadn’t had much time to consider how Johnny must feel. He found Johnny sitting outside with a basketball.  
“You want to shoot some?” Roy asked.  
Johnny looked up and started to get up and turned for the door.  
“Come on Johnny. What do you want me to do?” Roy asked him frustratedly.  
“You were the one who quit.”  
“I didn’t quit! I needed to move on. It wasn’t working for me anymore.”  
“What wasn’t working? You were still a great paramedic!”  
“John, I couldn’t stop bringing it home with me. I was miserable when I wasn’t at work and I was struggling even when I was at work. I looked fine to you maybe, but I wasn’t.”  
“Roy, why didn’t you say something?”  
“What was I going to say? Johnny, I always knew that at some point I’d have to move on. I just finally hit that point. I’m sorry that you aren’t there yet. Maybe you never will be. I can’t answer that for you. But I had to let go. Don’t think it isn’t hard because it is. I still want to be a paramedic. I can’t though.”  
Johnny stared at the ground, frowning. “I thought you were my best friend. Why couldn’t you talk to me about that?”  
Roy let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “It wasn’t that I didn’t think I could talk to you. I needed a change. It wasn’t something I was unsure about. I didn’t know how to tell you that I was ready to move on. Maybe I didn’t really think that I’d do well enough to be promoted. I was really surprised by how well I did, even if you don’t believe that.”  
Johnny looked at him with surprise. “How could you ever doubt how well you’d do? You’re amazing Roy. You look as confident with the engine as Mike did. I’m more upset that there’s no way for me to move on.”  
“You will when it’s time. It’s not time for you yet. You still have a lot to teach Mitch.”  
“I don’t feel that way.”  
Roy gave Johnny a pat on the back. “Junior, you are an amazing paramedic and you always have been. This is what you’re meant to do. Maybe it’s not what I was meant to do forever. Maybe I’ll come back to it in some way. For now though, this is where I need to be. And you’re where you need to be. I don’t want it to be the end of our friendship though.”  
Johnny gave Roy one of his half smiles. “Me either, pal.”  
“So how’s Bonnie?”  
Johnny turned a shade of red before glancing at Roy. “Maybe I’ll keep most of that to myself, pally.”  
Roy laughed and nodded. “That’s new. Let me know when you change your mind.”


	17. A Captain's Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Capt. Stanley’s take on the past couple of weeks. This goes back to Roy’s initial conversation with him about taking the engineer’s exam. It then jumps to several different points and ends with his conversation with Roy in the last chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Progress is going to be slow for the next while. I have a huge exam coming up and I've been spending a lot of time studying. The story is in my head, I just need the time to sit down and write it. I promise, it'll happen. It'll just take a while. :)

Hank sat in his office reviewing the runs from last shift. It had been quiet, which was probably bad news for his shift. Anytime one shift got a quiet day, the next day was sure to be crazy.  
“Hey Cap?”  
Hank looked up, wondering what his senior paramedic was doing in this early in the day. “Morning Roy. How are you?”  
“I’m alright. I wanted to talk to you about something.”  
Hank nodded. He was somewhat worried. Roy had been off for the past couple of shifts. Something had obviously been bothering him but he hadn’t said anything. Yet.  
“Come on in, pal.”  
Roy shut the door behind him and Hank immediately worried. Roy didn’t want anyone to hear what he was about to say.  
“Cap, I want to sign up to take the engineer’s test. The one in two weeks.”  
“Two weeks? Roy, are you sure that you can be ready for the test that fast?”  
Roy nodded. “Yes, sir, I can. I’ve kind of kept my mind on the material ever since the last time.”  
Hank looked at his senior paramedic with some concern. In truth, Hank had no doubts that Roy would be an amazing engineer if that’s what he wanted. Last time, however, Roy had turned the promotion down. It left Hank wondering why, all of a sudden, Roy now wanted to take the test again.  
“You sound very sure about this. Are you definitely interested in the promotion.”  
“It’s time, Cap. I’ve always felt like when the time was right for me to move on, I’d know. And I’m sure it’s time. Just, please don’t tell anyone yet. I haven’t told anyone what I’m doing.”  
Hank nodded. “Sure, no problem.”  
“Thanks, Cap. I’m going to go get some coffee.”  
“Roll call will be in ten anyway.”  
Hank looked down at the log book, now lost in thought. He still didn’t know what was bothering Roy but whatever it was, it had shaken him. Roy was one of the most steadfast men he knew. If Roy was changing his career path, he had to have put some serious thought into it. Maybe he’d said something to Mike. Hank would have to ask his engineer later and see if he could figure out what had created Roy’s new path. As luck would have it, his engineer stuck his head in the door just then.  
“Cap?”  
“Yeah, Mike?”  
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”  
Hank nodded, motioning to the empty chair. Mike sat and hesitated for a moment, biting his lip like he did when he was thinking carefully. “Do you know why Roy is testing?”  
“Oh. No, I was hoping you might, actually.”  
Mike shook his head. “I only know that he’s been off ever since that big accident a few weeks back. After that girl died, I dunno. Roy just hasn’t been the same. But it doesn’t make any sense Cap.”  
“I know, believe me. I’ve been trying to figure it out myself.”  
“I better get in for roll call, huh?”  
Hank nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be in soon.”  
Mike got up and gave his captain a nod before heading to the dayroom to round up the men of A shift. Mike was always good like that.  
“Ah, Roy. I hope you know what you’re doing.”  
*********************************************************************  
Hank had always hated eavesdropping but Roy and Marco were standing just outside his office and while they were not being loud, they were also not whispering.  
“How’d you do?” Roy asked Marco.  
“23.”  
“Nice work!”  
“Mike scored high enough too. He’ll probably be promoted within a month.”  
Roy nodded and headed into the captain’s office with Marco behind him.  
“Cap?” Roy’s voice sounded full of apprehension.  
Hank turned and handed Roy a small slip of paper and took a deep breath. “Congratulations Roy.” Hank looked at Roy with some hesitation. He hoped that what he was telling the man was the news that he wanted.  
Roy looked at the paper to see a 5 written on it. He stared at the paper in disbelief. He glanced up to see Mike standing in the doorway.  
“How’d you do?”  
“Five,” said Roy quietly.s  
“Whoa,” said Mike.   
“With that score,” started Marco but he never got to finish his sentence. Just then Johnny and Chet walked over.  
“Hey, what’s going on over here fellas?” asked Chet curiously.  
“Test results came in,” replied Hank glancing at the three men in his office before looking at the two standing outside.  
“Wait, who tested?” asked Johnny, looking at the three men in Hank’s office with confusion.  
Mike took a breath. “I did,” he said. “I took the captain’s exam.”  
“Nice!” said Chet. “How’d you do?”  
“Uh, pretty good. Good enough that I probably don’t have much time left here.” He looked down at the floor as he said it.  
“Uh, Roy, what’s that paper?” asked Chet.  
Hank saw the look that passed between Roy and Johnny and he realized quite suddenly that Roy never told his partner about testing.  
“Well, I took the engineer’s exam again,” Roy started. He stopped, unsure of what to say next and unwilling to look at his partner. Johnny stared at him.  
Hank watched the two men, wondering what was going to happen next. He never found out though. The universe decided that Roy’s next words could wait as the tones dropped, sending the squad on a run.  
As Hank watched the squad pull out, he sighed. Mike and Marco stood next to him but Chet had vanished.   
“I don’t think Johnny is real happy right now,” said Marco as he stared at the empty space the squad had just occupied.  
“Nope,” said Mike. “But Roy needed to move on.”  
“Did you find out why?” Marco asked curiously.  
Mike nodded. He stood there for a few moments chewing on his lip and Hank smiled. He was going to miss Mike a lot. Finally, he spoke.”  
“Roy told me that he was really shaken up when he lost that girl in the accident. Not because he thought he could have saved her but because he couldn’t. He knew when he got to her that there was probably nothing he could do. He told me that the feeling of helplessness never really went away and he couldn’t live with it anymore. So, he decided to take the engineer’s test and move up. I think he’s wanting to take the captain’s test in a few years.”  
“Roy would be a great captain,” said Marco grinning. “You will too.”  
Mike blushed and Hank glanced at the two men standing next to him. They would leave. One much sooner than the other and it would be hard on everyone. He hoped that he could handle the stress it would create.  
******************************************************************  
When the wake up tones went off, Hank responded as he normally did but he was having a hard time waking up. He would have preferred today not ever come. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was already missing Mike. Getting Roy as his engineer was a strange coincidence and it made him happy. At least he was trading one capable engineer for another. He knew both men well and it made him feel more confident in everything. He pulled on his bunkers and shuffled into the kitchen where Mike sat with a cup of coffee.   
“Your new station doesn’t know how lucky it is,” said Hank sitting next to Mike.  
Mike nodded, staring at the table. Hank couldn’t say for sure but he felt certain that Mike had cried recently. His eyes were rimmed with red. It could just be exhaustion but given the slow shift yesterday, Hank knew better. He patted Mike on the shoulder and headed out of the kitchen passing Johnny on the way. As he walked into the bay, Roy walked out of the dorms.  
“Roy, can I talk to you for a minute?”  
Roy nodded and followed Hank into his office.   
“Listen, I know you’re nervous but trust me. You’ll be a great engineer. It’s going to take some time for you to get used to the role but I have faith in you pal.”  
Roy nodded. “Thanks Cap.”  
Hank studied Roy’s face for a moment before sighing. “Go get some coffee.”  
Roy opened his mouth, as if to speak but seemed to change his mind before turning and heading for the kitchen.  
Hank truly believed the words that he had just spoken. He had watched Roy and Mike over these past few weeks and Mike showed Roy all the little oddities of the engine. He was pretty sure that Mike spent more time telling Roy to trust his instincts than anything and Hank wasn’t sure if Mike was trying to help Roy or himself. Probably both. Right now, he needed to get back into the kitchen and make sure that Chet and Johnny were doing alright. This would be hardest on them.  
************************************************************  
“Hey pal, you’re doing a great job.”  
Hank watched as Roy opened his eyes and the surprise was evident in his face.  
“Thanks Cap, but I know I’m not.”  
“Roy, you’re being to hard on yourself. You’ve been an engineer for three shifts. You’re doing better than you think.”  
“What about Johnny?”  
“Well, he’s got to adjust but he’ll get there. You two have quite a history and I don’t think that he’ll hate you forever. It’s different for him.”  
Roy nodded.  
Marco and Chet finally stumbled over, looking exhausted.   
“I’m famished,” muttered Chet.  
“Aren’t you cooking tonight?” asked Roy looking at the curly haired man.  
“Aw, man!”  
Marco laughed. “I don’t think we’re getting dinner any time soon.”  
Chet wandered over to the other side of the engine to get in while Marco followed Roy.   
Hank walked around the engine climbing in and turned to smile at Roy. It had been strange the first time Roy had sat next to him, driving their engine to a scene. Now, Hank was getting used to it. Roy had a very calming demeanor, he always had but it was rubbing off on Hank. Mike’s quietude had never really affected Hank that much but Roy’s calmness made him feel as though everything would be alright.  
There were cracks though. When Hank saw Roy leaning against the engine, he saw the worry on his face. He wasn’t good enough. He didn’t anticipate enough. He was hesitating sometimes with what to do next. Roy was still learning but he didn’t see it that way. Hank saw Roy’s potential. Roy only saw himself struggling.  
It wasn’t helping that Johnny was still so angry with Roy. In that respect, it might have been better if Roy had gone to another station. A new station would have been a fresh start. For Johnny, watching Roy get on the engine everyday was like tearing a bandaid off over and over. Hank was hopeful that the two men could patch up their differences.  
Roy backed the engine into the station and Hank suddenly realized that he didn’t miss Mike anymore. Mike was a friend and would always be a friend but the feeling of missing him in the station was gone. Roy turned and looked at Hank and Marco climbed out of the engine.  
“Cap? What do we do about dinner?”  
“Well, we may have to deal with sandwiches. I mean, did Chet even start anything?”  
“I don’t think so.”  
“Well, let’s get in there and supervise. It shouldn’t be to hard to convince him to go easy.”  
Roy grinned. “Hey Cap?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Thanks.”  
“No problem pal.”


	18. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The POV is split here between Artie and Jon. And with one situation starting to resolve, we've hit about the halfway point in this story. It's taken me awhile to get this chapter done, since I had graduation and the end of school. I still have a huge test to take but I have a lot more free time, so hopefully I'll get through the rest of this more regularly!

“Grossman! Come in here, please!”  
Artie stuck his head around the corner. Getraer’s unmistakable yell had him feeling as though there was only one thing that he needed to say to Artie.   
“Yeah, Sarge?”  
“This report, you just filled it out yesterday, correct?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
Joe took a deep breath and stared at the paper again. Artie had been asked to evaluate how Jon was doing on his motor and the truth was that Jon was fine. In the past month since they had been riding together, Artie had seen Jon become himself again. Whatever had been eating at Jon was no longer there. The report said as much. But Artie could tell that Joe wasn’t convinced.  
“Sarge? Is something wrong?”  
“No. I’m just worried. I don’t want to let Jon loose and then find out that he’s hiding something.”  
Artie blinked. “I don’t think he’s hiding anything, sir.”  
“I know and neither does his therapist but how long was he upset before we even knew about it?”  
Artie suddenly realized what was bothering the older man. He was worried that Jon would go back to his old ways as soon as he was off probation.  
“You know Sarge, Jon and I have been talking a lot more and I think that he’s really gotten better. Plus if he did happen to get upset again, there are a lot more people aware of what’s going on, you know?”  
Getraer nodded at Artie but didn’t say anything.  
“Uh, Sarge?”  
“Go hit your beat Grossman.”  
“Sure Sarge.”  
Artie got up and headed out the door, wondering where Jon was this morning. He sat down in the briefing room and stared at the wall for awhile. He was lost in thoughts about what to have for dinner when he was interrupted by Bonnie’s insistent tapping on his shoulder.  
“Wha?” he looked up confused.  
“Grossie, I was wondering what you were doing this weekend.”  
“Oh. Not much.”  
“Well, how would you like to go on a date?”  
Artie stared at Bonnie for several moments before shaking his head. “I don’t think so Bonnie. Thanks anyway.”  
In truth, the idea was a bit horrifying to him and he would do pretty much anything to avoid a blind date. He also hadn’t mentioned to anyone at the station about the woman he’d been seeing.  
“What about you Jon?” Bonnie turned to look at Jon who looked perplexed. He’d missed most of the conversation.  
“Do you want to go on a horseback ride this weekend?” Bonnie asked Jon.  
“Sure,” replied Jon smiling.  
“Great! You can meet us at ten!” Bonnie walked away grinning and Jon looked at Artie with a look of worry.  
“What did I just agree too?” Jon asked slowly.  
“A blind date,” replied Artie who stood up and patted Jon on the shoulder.  
Jon groaned as he followed Artie out the door.  
“Grossie, what about briefing?” asked Jon as the two walked down the hall.   
Artie sighed as he got to the door. “I’m going to tell Sarge there were some extenuating circumstances. Come on.”  
Artie climbed onto his bike and glanced over at Jon. He’d been wanting to tell Jon about Sara for awhile but something was keeping him from saying anything. He didn’t think now was the best time to mention it either and so he put his helmet on and started his motor up, thinking about what Sarge had asked him earlier.  
By lunchtime, Artie was aware that Jon knew he was distracted. In truth, between his thoughts about Sara and his conversation with Getraer, Artie was on a different planet. He wasn’t paying much attention to anything Jon was saying although he noticed that Jon seemed to be his old, cheerful self. Artie was so distracted that the beeping of his radio startled him and he jumped.  
“Attention all units in the area of Sepulveda and Colfax, be on the lookout for a blue pickup, 1-8-3-Nora-Nora-Charles. Possibly left scene of an 11-80.”  
“Grossie,” started Jon, pointing at the highway onramp.  
Artie looked over and saw the same thing. The blue pickup looked to be getting on the highway. Jon turned his bike and Artie made to follow, the two rushing to keep up with the truck.  
“LA, 7-Mary-3 and 7-Mary-5, in pursuit of blue pickup getting on Ventura Freeway northbound.”  
“10-4, 7-Mary-3.”  
Artie sped past Jon and hit his siren to try and make up some of the ground between them and the truck. He had a vague awareness of Jon behind him. After a moment, the two motorcycles caught up with the truck and Artie pulled up next to the truck to try and get the driver to pull over. He glanced to the right and made eye contact with the driver who looked totally freaked out. The only thought that made it through Artie’s mind was uh-oh. 

**************

Jon saw the truck move quickly to the left and make contact with Artie’s bike in time to hit his own brakes. He was thankful that he heard sirens behind him, letting him know that someone else was coming to keep up with the truck. He pulled his bike quickly to the shoulder to stop and heard commotion on the highway beside him. Jon’s priority was Artie though.  
“LA, 7-Mary-3, 11-99 on 7-Mary-5.”  
Jon didn’t wait to hear a reply because he knew what was coming. Instead he ran across the highway to where Artie was lying. He checked for a pulse and sighed when he found it. While he listened for the sounds of the ambulance, he did what he could for Artie and tried to keep calm. A quick assessment told him that Artie had a broken leg at a minimum and probably had a concussion. Hopefully, nothing worse than that.   
By the time Artie was getting loaded into the ambulance Jon was more aware of the rest of his friends trying to do their jobs and find out how Artie was at the same time. He felt sure that no time at all had passed but it had seemed to take forever for the paramedics to get there.   
A touch on the shoulder brought him back to the noise and reality around him.  
“Jon are you ok?” asked Ponch.  
Jon nodded, looking around at the mess on the highway and sighing. “Yeah. It happened so fast though. Did they catch the guy?”  
“Yeah. Bear got him maybe a mile down from here.”  
“Good.”  
The two men looked up to see their sergeant walking towards them.  
“Grossman woke up just before the ambulance took off.”  
“So, he’ll be ok?” asked Jon.  
“Hopefully. We’ll see what they say at the hospital.”  
Jon nodded. “What do you need me to do Sarge?”  
“I need you to be the officer that you’ve been while you were with Grossman. As of now, I’m letting you off probation. He said that he felt you were ready and I think that you showed that today.”  
Jon swallowed hard and nodded. He was grateful that Artie had said that and yet angry that this incident is what got him released from probation.  
Getraer looked at him and patted his arm. “You’re ready Jon. Just do me a favor and stay on your bike.”  
Jon nodded again. “I will Sarge. I owe Grossie that much.”  
“You did the work, not Grossie.”  
“He had more to do with my getting better than you know.”  
The Sergeant raised his eyebrows in surprise but said nothing. Jon headed over to his bike. He had paperwork to fill out and a friend to go visit in the hospital tonight.


	19. Forgiveness isn't easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bob's POV

There was an icy silence in the squad. In fact, Bob couldn’t remember a time when he ever felt as uncomfortable as he had in this past week. It was entirely his fault, he admitted but it was still hard. A week ago, Craig was his best friend and now Bob had to wonder if Craig would ever speak to him again, at least outside of a professional capacity. Craig closed the squad door and grabbed the radio.  
“Squad 16 available.”  
Then as per usual, he turned and stared out the window and refused to even speak. Bob sighed and drove back towards the station, once again in total silence.   
The moment Craig had realized that Bob had called Andrea to come and take care of him, Craig had given Bob and icy stare and Bob realized his friend was angry. Almost at once, Bob saw the embarrassment in Craig’s face, followed by a steely determination that he was not going home with her. Brackett has made it clear someone would have to or Craig would have to stay at Rampart.  
“I’ll stay,” came the cool reply.  
“What?” Bob asked, astonished.  
Andrea glanced around the room. “Maybe that’s better? I mean, Craig looks pretty bad off right now.”  
“He is but not so bad that he has to stay. I just want to make sure he gets woken up every two hours so that he doesn’t slip into a coma. If he gets hard to wake, he needs to come back.”  
“I’m staying so it doesn’t matter.”  
Bob stared at his partner and Johnny slid over to the door sensing the tension in the room.   
“Well, if you’d rather stay we’ll get you a room,” shrugged Brackett.   
“Craig,” Bob started.  
“Go. I’d like to speak to Andrea alone.” His voice softened slightly at the mention of the woman standing there and Bob decided to give him some space.  
“Ok. I’ll come by tomorrow.”  
He slipped out of the room and sighed. Johnny stood outside, waiting.  
“What was that about?”  
“I think I embarrassed him,” said Bob quietly. “He hasn’t known her that long.”  
“Well, maybe he’ll fell better about it in the morning.”  
“Maybe. See ya Johnny.”  
Bob shuffled down the hall slowly, wondering what to do now. He was fairly certain that he was out of service for now but they would call someone in. He had just made it to the end of the hall when Andrea’s voice got his attention. He turned and smiled at the woman as she hurried down the hall to him.  
“Thank you for calling me. He seemed to be really scared that he was hurt. I’m glad that the doctor agreed to him staying.”  
Bob nodded because Andrea hadn’t heard the part of Brackett’s speech where he told Craig he was fine.  
“I’ll see you around Bob.”  
He nodded again and watched as she headed out to the parking lot.   
Bob got in the squad and drove back to the station, feeling a sense of dread.   
That had been two weeks ago now and Bob very much regretted what he had done but his apologies had been met with silence.   
“Uh, I’m gonna stop and get a burger. Do you want one?”   
Craig didn’t reply and Bob parked the squad. It was what he’d expected. He reached for the door.  
“Wait.”  
Bob froze. He slowly turned his head to look at his partner and waited.  
“I was told to talk to you about this, so I am.”  
Bob nodded.  
“What you did was completely overstepping the boundary of friendship. You should have known that. But I have to admit that it did fix some things and for that I owe you some thanks. I’m not saying I forgive you. I’m not saying it was ok. But I do miss my best friend.”  
“I am sorry, Craig. I didn’t think things through and I knew what was going on. I just thought you needed a push and that would be a good push.”  
Craig nodded, although he was still looking at the floor. “I did need a push. I just didn’t like it. I still don’t, really. But I think the result was what you intended and I’m not upset about that.”  
Bob couldn’t help but grin a bit. “Really?”  
“Well, if the result was to have me and Andrea dating, then yes.”  
Bob kept smiling but didn’t get another word out because the radio beeped.  
“Squad 16, stand by for a response.”  
Bob looked at the radio and waited.  
“Station 16 with Squad 16, Truck 127 respond to an incident on Canyon Road. Informant reports possible man trapped.”  
Craig grabbed the mic. “Squad 16, 10-4.”  
Bob sighed as he turned the squad into the street and headed for the desolate road. He turned onto the road just ahead of the engine and he could hear the siren of the truck in the distance. The dust was making it hard to see and they had very little information to go on.  
“Engine 16, this is Squad 16. Do you see anything Captain?” asked Craig as they navigated the turns and bumps.  
“Negative Squad 16. LA this is Engine 16, do we have any further information on this incident?”  
“Engine 16, a second caller reports a man trapped on a ledge about three miles from Dora Canyon.”  
Bob looked around, trying to figure out how far they were from the landmark and slowed down.  
“We have to be close,” he mumbled. He watched the brush to see if there was any evidence of a car going over but saw nothing. As they rounded a sharp curve, there seemed to be a huge piece of fabric in the road. Bob hit the brakes.  
“What the... is that a balloon?” Craig asked.  
“I think so,” replied Bob hesitantly.  
The two men climbed out of the squad to try and see where the person might be. Craig squeezed around the fabric to get to the other side while Bob walked to the edge of the road. The pair were soon joined by the rest of the men, who all looked rather surprised at what they found.   
“Well, I guess we’ll need some rope,” said Bob as he stared down the sharp drop.  
Within a moment, Bob and Craig were working their way down, trying to see the man below them. It had been to far for them to hear if he was awake so they were going into this blind, with the stokes following them. Craig got to the ledge that the basket had landed on first and found the man inside.   
“He’s hit his head pretty hard but otherwise, I think he’s ok.”  
“Alright, let’s get him in the stokes and then back up.”  
The crew above them worked to pull the stretcher up and Bob prepared to go next when a hard wind caused the basket to shift. The unexpected motion caused Craig to lose his balance and slip off the ledge.  
“Craig!” yelled Bob as he reached for the rope. The men at the top had tied off Craig’s line so he didn’t fall far.  
“Are you ok? Did you hit your head?” asked Bob nervously.  
“No, I didn’t. I think I’m ok.” Craig was looking for something to grab onto but there was nothing useful nearby.   
Bob pulled up on the line, trying to haul Craig back onto the ledge but didn’t have enough strength on his own. Another gust of wind caused the basket to shift and this time it fell off the ledge. Bob looked up in time to see the balloon falling and hit the ground. He prayed that he didn’t get dragged off the ledge. Once the balloon had fallen past him, Bob scooted over to the edge of the ledge to see Craig trying to hold himself to the wall of the cliff.  
“Craig? You ok?”  
“Get me out of here!”  
Bob grinned. “You got it pal!”  
After a moment, the men at the top seemed to be ready to pull their paramedics back up and they managed to scale the wall back to the top without any further incident. When they got up, Craig headed for the ambulance with a glance back at Bob.  
“Meet you at Rampart.”  
Bob nodded as he started to pick up the ropes.   
Thirty minutes later, Bob stood at the desk next to Dixie, waiting for Craig to get back out and relaying the story of their rescue.  
“You boys were lucky,” said Dixie with a smile.  
“You don’t need to tell me, Dix!”  
“Are we ready to go?” asked Craig walking over.  
“Planning any balloon rides soon?” teased Dixie.  
“No,” said Craig with a small smile, as he turned to Bob. “Come on, let’s get those burgers. We never did get lunch.”  
Bob grinned and gave Dixie a nod. “See ya Dix!”  
She smiled as she watched the two men walk away from her.


	20. Starting Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Essentially from Johnny's POV, although there's some liberty there as conversations take place.

Johnny sighed as he shoved the trauma box back into the squad. He was really trying to like Mitchell but he wasn’t Roy. As soon as he thought about Roy, he frowned. Johnny slammed the door on the squad before turning to get into the driver’s seat. Mitchell slid into the seat next to Johnny and glanced down at the floor before casting a quick glance over at Johnny. He looked like he was going to say something but then changed his mind. Johnny started driving back to the station and stewed. In the two weeks since Roy had become the engineer for 51, Johnny had been trying very hard to like Mitchell. Unfortunately, Mitchell was an idiot, as far as Johnny could tell.   
By the time they got to the station, Mitchell had started to say something twelve times. Johnny knew because every time Mitchell would take a breath and then let it out. And then there would be silence. The driver side door slammed and a very annoyed paramedic wandered into the dayroom to find four firefighters going over a list of citations that needed to be checked on. Roy and Captain Stanley sat on one side of the table while Marco and Chet sat on the other. With a pile of paper in the middle and a list of violations on each side.   
The quiet was wearing on Johnny and he longed to help with the paperwork, which was saying something. Instead he flopped onto the couch and listened to the murmurs of the other four men and stared at Mitchell who simply hovered near the door, unsure of where to go.   
“You could help, ya know,” complained Chet as he turned over a sheet of paper.  
“But then what would you have to do?” asked Johnny with some venom.  
“Enough,” snapped their captain.   
Chet dropped his head again and Johnny went back to frowning. The captain glanced over at the door and sighed.  
“Sit, Mitchell.”  
The younger man looked at his captain and nodded before wandering over to an empty chair with a sideways glance at his partner.  
When Johnny and Roy began a tentative truce, the men thought the station’s troubles were over. In fact, it seemed like the former partners had gotten back to their old relationship. Roy had referred to Johnny as junior several times and the younger man seemed to have accepted Roy’s new job. There were still moments but things were overall much better except for Mitchell. The new man seemed to be unable to fit into the station and it was starting to show. More than once, Captain Stanley had thought that Mitchell was going to ask for a transfer but the young man never did.  
“So how was the rescue?” asked Roy.  
“Fine,” came two voices at once.  
Roy raised an eyebrow at Johnny, who looked as though fine was the last thing that on his mind.  
“Well, that’s good. I wouldn’t want it to have been not fine. I mean, you know, I’ve rescued you enough times Johnny.”  
Johnny grinned. “Well, considering it was a heart attack, I don’t think there was any risk to my life.”  
Roy shook his head and went back to the paper in front of him.  
“Could’ve been a rattle snake or something. You never know.”  
Five heads slowly turned and stared at Mitchell, who went from a slight smile to a frown.  
“Did I say something?” asked the younger man, looking at the faces in front of him.  
“Yeah, I guess.” Johnny got up off the couch and walked out the kitchen door, slamming it behind him.  
Mitchell let out a sigh and Roy followed Johnny out the door.  
Johnny heard the door open and close and didn’t need to turn around to know that Roy was standing behind him. He could hear Chet’s voice coming out the door, almost yelling about being bitten by a rattler once and what did he think it was funny to make a joke like that.  
“So, what really happened?” asked Roy quietly.  
“He’s completely useless, Roy. He messed up the leads, then grabbed the wrong meds out of the box and managed to read the vitals wrong to Brackett. I know he passed training but somehow he seems to have forgotten everything he was ever taught.”  
“We taught him,” Roy reminded gently. “He wasn’t incompetent then.”  
“Maybe not but he sure is now.”  
“Are you sure that you aren’t a little overbearing?”  
“What? No! I just want it done right, like we used -” Johnny stopped.  
“Like we used to? But he’s not me, Junior.”  
“No, he’s not. I don’t know what to do though Roy. We used to just know what to do. He keeps looking to me, as if he needs me to tell him what to do next.”  
“Well, you have to admit that we have a pretty unique bond,” started Roy. “Even Joanne says that I’ve been a little out of sorts since changing jobs and I know that at least part of that is because I don’t have you next to me all the time.”  
“Yeah but you know that Chet and Marco have got it!”  
“That’s just it! I know Chet and Marco because I’ve worked with them for so long. And I know that they have got this. It leaves me some room to make mistakes. And I’ve made a few, believe me. The difference is that I have that buffer. Mitchell doesn’t.”  
“So what do I do?” asked Johnny, turning to look at Roy with confusion.  
“Well, when we started we talked. A lot. We talked each other through procedures and tasks and repeated things a lot. Over time we stopped doing that because we didn’t need it. What would you do if I was out sick?”  
“I guess I’d talk with whoever was filling in.”  
Roy nodded before continuing. “You gotta give him the same thing. You can’t expect him to walk in and fill my shoes without some time. Just like Chet and Marco don’t expect me to be Mike.”  
“They don’t expect you to be Mike!”  
Roy huffed. “Yeah, they do sometimes. Hell, Marco even said it last week once. He apologized later but that stings.”  
“Oh man. I’m sorry.”  
Roy shrugged. “This is hard. There’s a reason why men don’t usually stay at the same station when they move up. I imagine that even though Mike’s having a tough time of things, it’s not so bad because nobody knows him. They don’t hold him to as high of a standard as we might.”  
Johnny shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed. “Mike’s having a hard time?”  
“Yeah. I talked to him a couple days ago. I was hoping that he’d be able to help me but basically, he told me what I just told you.”  
“Did it help?” asked Johnny.  
“Some,” admitted Roy. “Sometimes it’s just nice to know that you’re not doing this alone.”  
Johnny nodded. “I need to get back in there. I’m supposed to be cooking.”  
“Ugh,” groaned Roy.  
“Thanks a lot pally.”   
Johnny gave Roy a playful shove and the two men walked back into the kitchen together.  
Mitchell let off the couch when they walked back in. “I’m sorry, John. I had no idea and -“  
“Stop. It’s fine. And it’s not John. Call me Johnny.”  
“What?”  
“Johnny. Nobody calls me John. Well, except Craig but he usually calls me Gage.”  
“Oh. Uh, ok.”   
There was a moment of quiet in the room.  
“Come on partner. Let me introduce you to the Gage method of cooking.” Johnny patted Mitchell on the shoulder.   
The look of shock that passed over the young man’s face didn’t go unnoticed. Marco glanced over at Roy.  
“What did you do?” he whispered at Roy.  
Roy just shrugged. He didn’t miss the smile that passed over his captain’s face though.  
“Some advice works magic sometimes, huh Roy?”   
Roy nodded and had the distinct feeling that his captain knew more than he let on.


	21. Onward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Jon's POV and I think I'm almost though with their story. It's been interesting to write and I appreciate those of you who've been reading.

After Artie’s accident, Jon had tried to get out the blind date Bonnie had planned. Bonnie had gone to see Artie the day after though and discovered that Artie was doing well. The doctor had kept him because of the concussion, which was pretty severe. By all accounts Artie would be going home on Friday and Bonnie felt that meant that Jon shouldn’t feel guilty about the date. Jon was still hoping for rain when he went to sleep on Friday night but when he woke up the next day, the sun was in the sky. Sighing, Jon dragged himself out of bed.   
By the time he had gotten to the ranch, he had at least managed to convince himself that a ride would do his heart good. He parked his truck and headed over to the barn to try and find Bonnie, her boyfriend and Jon’s date. Glancing around, he didn’t see them anywhere. He tried to recall what Bonnie’s boyfriend looked like since all Jon really remembered about him was that he had dark hair and was rather tall. He waited for fifteen minutes and was about to just give up when he finally saw Bonnie, getting out of a white truck.   
“Jon! Sorry, we got a little lost.” She sounded a little annoyed and the man behind her was rolling his eyes. “Do you remember Johnny?”  
“Um, yeah, I think so,” replied Jon with a smile. “You’re a paramedic, right?”  
“Yup.” Johnny turned to the girl behind him. “This is Ann. She’s the sister of one of the guys I work with.”  
Jon smiled at her and was taken slightly by surprise. The girl looking back at him had blue eyes and curly, dark hair. Her face was round and she looked as though she had a sense of humor, although Jon had no idea why he thought that.   
Ann smiled back at him. “Nice to meet you.”  
The group got horses and headed out onto a trail that wasn’t to hard since neither woman was particularly adept at riding horses. Jon stayed back with Ann who admitted to him that she had only been on a horse a couple of times before.  
“Then why go horseback riding?” asked Jon, surprised.  
“Well, I guess I became a third wheel. I don’t exactly know the story but I’m sure that my brother had something to do with it. Anyway, Johnny said that I could come along with him and Bonnie and Bonnie came up with the idea to find me a date. Sorry you got dragged into this.”  
“I’m not sorry. I’m having a good time. I just thought it was a strange choice.” Jon smiled at her and hoped that she believed him because he was really having a good time.  
Ann laughed. “I am too.”  
Bonnie and Johnny had packed a picnic lunch and by the time they found a good spot to eat, everyone was hungry so the food vanished pretty quickly. Jon looked up at the sky and frowned. It was quickly starting to look like rain and a quick glance at Johnny told him that he had the same thought.  
“We should head back,” Johnny said to Bonnie as he packed everything up to her protests. “It’s really looking like rain and neither of you can ride very fast.”  
Jon nodded in agreement and the group got back on their horses and started back as quickly as they could. It was good they hurried because the rain started just as they got the horses into the barn. Jon agreed to take Ann home and Johnny ran through the rain to get her bag out of his truck. That gave Jon a few minutes to talk to Bonnie.  
“He seems like a good guy,” he said with a slight question at the end.  
“He is,” Bonnie replied. “I really like him too. He’s fun to be around.”  
“Good. Make sure that he knows if he does anything rude, he’ll have at least half of the CHP after him.”  
Bonnie laughed. “Thank you but I think we’re good.”  
Jon smiled as Johnny got back and he then he and Ann ran for his truck, getting a little wet in the process.  
“Sorry,” Jon said with a grin. “I wish I could have brought the truck over to the barn.”  
“It’s alright. It’s a little water. I’ll dry. Promise.” She winked at him.  
The pair talked all the way back to the city and Jon was having a good time. For the first time, he was truly glad that he went on the date. As they got back to Ann’s apartment, Jon decided that he wanted to ask her out again.  
“Listen,” Jon started.  
“This was,” Ann said at the same time.  
They laughed. “You go first,” said Ann with a smile.  
“I had fun. I was wondering if you might want to go out again sometime.”  
“I would love to,” she replied still smiling.  
“How’s next Friday? We could get some dinner and maybe see a movie?”  
“That sounds like a good plan.” Ann scribbled her phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to Jon. “Call me when you have a time?”  
Jon nodded as he took the paper. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing her to blush a little.   
By Monday, Jon had planned out the entire date in his mind and decided to call Ann Friday night. He was even happier to get to work and find Artie there.  
“I am cleared to work and very happy to report that I feel good. I’ll be on desk duty until this cast comes off but otherwise, I’m good.”   
“That’s great Artie,” said Jon smiling. “I mean, we’ll miss you on the streets but I’m glad that you’re at work and feeling good. Thank you, by the way. Getraer cleared me for duty and he said that you were responsible for that.”  
“No, you were,” replied Artie with a smile. “You did the work. I just told him that you weren’t trying any more motor stunts in the streets.”  
Jon shook his head as he headed for the lockers to get changed and left Artie at the front desk to answer the phone. By the time he got out from briefing the office was much busier. He stopped in the front on his way out.  
“Hey Artie, have you seen Bonnie this morning?”  
“Nope. You want me to tell her anything?”  
“No. I’ll see her. Thanks though.”  
“Sure thing.”  
Jon walked outside and started to put on his helmet when Ponch walked up next to him. For the first time in a very long time, Jon was pleased to realize that he didn’t feel any animosity towards his friend. He hadn’t realized how anxious it had made him before but right now, he felt pretty good.  
“You up to patrol awhile?” asked Ponch as he picked up his helmet.  
“Sure,” Jon smiled as he started up his bike. He glanced over at his friend next to him and smiled. The two men headed out to the streets.


	22. Sometimes You Get What You Need

Four months later  
Johnny leaned up against the railing of the deck and grinned at the woman next to him. He couldn’t recall the last time he had a relationship last this long and he was happy about it. Roy had told him more than once that Bonnie was good for him.   
In truth, Johnny figured that time had more to do with his better attitude. He and Roy had finally found a way to work as friends but not partners. Roy was an incredible engineer, especially now that he was more used to the role. Johnny was pretty sure that Marco leaving for his new station was also helpful. Marco and Roy were still friends but the tension that had been there between them with Roy higher in rank than Marco had vanished. In fact, Marco leaving had a wonderful effect on Chet too, Johnny realized. Chet had stepped up and really took their boot under his wing.   
Johnny heard the laugh of his partner and glanced over to see Mitchell having a good time with Roy and Craig. That relationship had improved as well. Once Johnny had gotten past expecting Mitchell to just know everything, their relationship had grown. Now the two paramedics were as in sync with each other as Johnny and Roy had once been.   
Looking in the other direction Johnny smiled to see his Captain and Mike standing there. Mike looked blissful holding his new son and Captain Stanley seemed to enjoy the role of “uncle” that he had been given. Mike and Hank Stanley were definitely close and Johnny realized that their relationship had changed once Mike left but in many ways it was better. Harder because the two men didn’t see each other as much but better.   
With a smile and a nod, Johnny left Bonnie to talk with Joanne and walked over to where Roy, Craig and Mitchell were standing.  
“I thought Dr. Early was going to lose it when the mother explained that the kid had gotten his hand stuck in the drain. Mostly because he really didn’t expect us to bring half the sink with us.”  
Roy laughed at the story, probably thinking of some of the ridiculous things that he and Johnny had seen. Craig shook his head as he listened.  
“I can’t understand how that even happened,” he sighed. “It makes one think that having kids is just a horrible idea.”  
“Not really,” replied Roy, still chuckling. “It’s just that they can get themselves into messes. That ends though, once they get older.”  
Johnny didn’t miss the wistful look that passed over Roy’s face as he thought about his own two kids who were now much older than when Johnny had first met them.   
Craig looked unconvinced. “What do you think, John?”  
“Oh, I think that they can be worth it.” Johnny shrugged as he remembered the look on Mike’s face every time he looked at his son. Johnny shot a quick glance at Roy who had a smirk on his face, seeming to know where Johnny’s thoughts might be going.  
Craig and Mitchell wandered off for food, leaving Roy and Johnny alone.  
“It’s been a crazy few months, huh pally?” said Johnny with a grin.  
“It has. So what is this about kids being worth it?”  
“Nevermind.” Johnny felt himself flush and he knew that Roy had figured some things out. That friendship was one that would never be gone. Much like Mike and Captain Stanley, Johnny just knew that he and Roy would always be close.  
“So whose idea was it to take half the sink to Rampart?”  
“Uh, mostly mine but Chet may have suggested it first.”  
Roy shook his head. He had been outside during the incident, with the engine. His face told Johnny that he missed some of those moments. Other times though, Roy was glad he was well out of the messes that the engine crew had to help the rescue squad with.  
“Speaking of Chet,” started Roy as he glanced over to where the lineman stood, “how’s his sister doing?”  
“Pretty good, I think. Bonnie said that she’s seen her with one of the other officers a lot. I thought I was doing Chet a favor by trying to get his sister out to meet some people, with her being new to LA and all. I may have ended up doing her the favor though. Or Bonnie did, I guess.”  
Roy smiled. “Well that sounds like it may have ended well. I still can’t believe that you got mixed up in all that for Chet.”  
Johnny shrugged. “Chet’s a good friend. I owed him.”  
Roy smiled and shook his head. “I think you’re even now.”  
Johnny grinned and glanced at his watch. “Actually, Bonnie and I need to get going or we’ll be late.”  
“Alright Junior. I’ll see you Monday.”  
Johnny nodded as he waved goodbye to Roy and went to gather Bonnie. They said a quick goodbye to Mike and his wife before heading to Johnny’s apartment. The two changed quickly, not having wanted to wear anything to nice to Mike’s party since it was a barbecue. A wedding required something nicer though. An hour later, the pair was on their way.

The Getraer’s backyard was decorated beautifully and Johnny was sure that Bonnie’s sergeant hadn’t been the one in charge of decorating it. The older man walked over to them as they got there and smiled.   
“This looks great Joe,” said Bonnie warmly.  
“Well, it was mostly Betty,” he replied, confirming Johnny’s hunch.  
“Have you met John?” asked Bonnie.  
Joe shook his head and Bonnie quickly introduced the two just as another man walked over.  
“You should all get seated. We’re about ready to get started here.”  
“You look nice Jon,” Bonnie said cheerfully.   
The blond man smiled back at her. “Thanks! Wait til you see the bride.” He turned and went back inside the house as the other went to take their seats.  
Johnny glanced around and recognized a few of the people that were already seated and waved at the few he had come to know.  
He was glad there hadn’t been any traffic because they really had just made it. They had just gotten seated when Jon and another man walked down the center aisle to stand at the gazebo with the waiting officiant.  
Bonnie leaned over and whispered, “Grossie looks so happy!”  
Johnny smiled back and he had to agree. He knew that the man waiting for his bride had just recently gotten his leg out of a cast after a bad accident. Bonnie had told him a lot of the stories. He also knew about the craziness that Jon had been through in the past several months. They all must live some blessed lives, himself included he thought.

Sure enough, the young woman who walked down the aisle was beautiful and looked as happy as the man waiting for her. Bonnie had told Johnny the story of how the two had been friends and over the past several months had gotten much closer. After the accident, Artie had decided that he needed to live life and had proposed to Sarah, causing a tumultuous organization of a wedding that would take place in the yard they were sitting in.

After the ceremony, there was more food and Johnny found that after Mike’s barbecue and Artie’s wedding he might never need to eat again. He and Bonnie sat with a group of officers that Bonnie knew well. Johnny glanced around the table listening to the stories and suddenly realized something.  
“Ann! What are you doing here?”  
“Well, I’m Jon’s date. Aren’t I allowed?” she teased Johnny. “It took you long enough to notice.”  
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I’ve been everywhere today, it seems.”  
“I heard. Hopefully my brother didn’t make a fool of himself.”  
“Uh, Chet does that a lot,” pointed out Johnny with a grin.  
Ann laughed. “I never got to thank you for bringing me along that afternoon.”  
“It was nothing,” replied Johnny. “Just helping out a friend.”  
“Well, I’m very glad that you did,” said Jon from where he sat on the other side of Ann.  
“Are we going to be planning any more weddings?” asked Joe Getraer as he walked up behind the group.  
Ponch looked down at his plate and tried not to laugh. Jon shook his head and looked over at Johnny who tried to avoid Bonnie’s gaze. The men all managed to catch each other’s eyes as they sat there and laughter broke out.  
“I’ll take that as a we’ll see,” laughed Joe as he walked off.  
Johnny smiled and felt a sense of peace. It had been a crazy few months but he was certainly excited to see where it was going to go.

Jon glanced over at Ann and couldn’t help but think that he had been incredibly lucky these past few months. Whatever it was that caused him to feel so miserable had lifted and the more time he spent with Ann the happier he was. While the idea of marrying her was still a little further out than he was comfortable with he could see it happening someday and that made him happy.   
“You ok?” asked Ann.  
“Yes. I was just lost in thought,” admitted Jon.  
Ann rested her hand on his arm and he smiled. She hadn’t looked at Ponch once today, he had noticed. She was polite to his friend but she had told him in private that she felt he was a little to much for her taste. Jon could only smile at the thought that she had no interest in Ponch. Jon had realized that he had let his friend rub off on him a little to much, perhaps. Spending more time with Artie had brought Jon back down to earth and made him realize that he needed to spend more time with his other friends. Doing that had been great because he had gotten closer with not only Artie but Bear and Bonnie and, by default, Johnny as well. They were all wonderful people and his life was better because of them. He only wanted one wish anymore and that was to live his life. He may have once hoped for a disaster but this was definitely the rainbow at the end of the storm.


End file.
